120 HUNTING TRIPS 



places and hold dancing rings, posturing 

 and strutting about as they face and pass 

 each other. 



The nest is generally placed in a tuft of 

 grass or under a sage-brush in the open, but 

 occasionally in the brush wood near a 

 stream. The chicks are pretty little balls of 

 mottled brown and yellow down. The 

 mother takes great care of them, leading 

 them generally into some patch of brush 

 wood, but often keeping them out in the deep 

 grass. Frequently when out among the cat- 

 tle I have ridden my horse almost over a 

 hen with a brood of chicks. The little chicks 

 first attempt to run off in single file ; if dis- 

 covered they scatter and squat down under 

 clods of earth or tufts of grass. Holding 

 one in my hand near my pocket it scuttled 

 into it like a flash. The mother, when she 

 sees her brood discovered, tumbles about 

 through the grass as if wounded, in the ef- 

 fort to decoy the foe after her. If she is 

 successful in this, she takes a series of short 

 flights, keeping just out of reach of her 



