each morning I soon educated them to flush at the sight 

 of me. In a couple of weeks they behaved very well 

 and furnished me with good sport, hiding readily and 

 lying good for the dogs. 



Most of the game birds need more or less educating 

 before they fully meet the requirements of the sports- 

 men. Most, too, of the complaints that sportsmen make 

 regarding the bad behavior of certain species of game 

 or birds of certain sections should be charged to the 

 lack on the part of the hunter of a knowledge of their 

 habits rather than to the ill manners of the birds. One 

 will often hear it said that certain men are lucky hunt- 

 ers and can not help staggering onto their game. Such 

 men are lucky because they make a close study of the 

 ways of the birds of each separate character of coun- 

 try. Knowing the places in which they will most likely 

 be found feeding, they approach them from such direc- 

 tions as will have a tendency to drive them into the 

 desired cover. A great deal of the annoyance of run- 

 ning birds, I have found, can be avoided by a careful 

 study of their habits and proper management in han- 

 dling them, and this is especially true of the scaled 

 quail. 



Color The back, the wings and tail coverts are a 

 light, ashy blue, but the feathers of the shoulders, 

 breast and abdomen are margined with dark brown, 

 with a yellowish arrow-shaped central spot which gives 

 them the appearance of scales. Its throat is a very faint 

 but?, and instead of the plume of the genus Lophortyx 

 it has a broad erectile crest with the feathers tipped 

 with white. Both sexes sire ulike. 



Nest and Eggs The nesting habits are the same as 

 those of the other species of the blue quail family, but 

 the eggs are more of a buff and generally more speck- 

 eled with brown. 



Measurements About the same as the valley quail. 



THE CHESTNUT-BELLIED SCALE QUAIL 



(Callipepla squamata castaneigastra) 

 The chestnut-bellied scaled quail is a sub-species of 

 the scaled quail just described. They are not numer- 

 ous and hardly enter the territory covered by this work. 

 Intergrades of the two species are occasionally found 

 in northern Mexico and possibly in southeastern Ari- 

 zona. In general appearance they resemble the former 

 species, being, however, a little, darker and with a 

 strong chestnut blotch on the belly. 

 23 



