THE PIED QUAIL. 251 



deep narrow holes in the ground. To get water out of 

 them, the men let buckets down with ropes, and haul them 

 up hand over hand. The first half- bucketful no ingenuity 

 or cunning of hand will bring a bucket up full is covered 

 with a thick slime, the next is muddy, then it gets worse 

 until it is half mud, and it will .take thirty minutes for the 

 water to collect again. To water a large party is impossible; 

 to water a small one, laborious and tiresome. 



This water is said to be very wholesome. It is most 

 certainly nasty. It is tepid, slightly bitter, and, even after 

 standing all night in a vessel to settle, thick and discoloured. 

 I cannot say what its washing qualities are it is too 

 scarce to be wasted for such a purpose ; but, if so used, 

 would probably make a man slightly more dirty than he 

 was before. 



On going to the water-holes in the morning we see flocks 

 of the pied or desert quail coming to the puddles to drink 

 a rare and beautiful game-bird, well worthy to have a few 

 words said about him. 



Pied quails are strictly confined in range to deserts, 

 and in them only found in a few places ; though, wherever 

 met with, these birds are generally numerous. They 

 weigh, in their feathers, three to the pound ; and, as far 

 as comparison by memory is to be relied on, seem 

 identical with the common Mexican quail, except in 

 plumage. The desert quails are of a general sandy hue, 

 mottled and splashed all over with irregular gray-brown 

 and reddish spots. When in open view, a little distance 

 off and quite still, they are practically invisible, looking 

 exactly like a lot of scattered stones. But the most 



