ROCK PAR TRID GE Q UAIL. 2 39 



Later they lie very close until flushed once, then scatter 

 and run in every direction, so that even with the best dog 

 the hunter rarely gets more than two or three shots at a 

 covey. 



In North-Western Texas and South-Eastern New 

 Mexico this bird is abundant; that is, three or four coveys 

 may sometimes be found in a day's hunt. I have, how- 

 ever, never seen it except in the portion of country speci- 

 fied, and the plains hunter cannot rely on it for sport. 



QUAIL. 



The western quail, though sufficiently like its eastern 

 cousin, ' Bob White,' to be constantly confounded with it 

 even by observing sportsmen, is yet a different bird. The 

 general appearance and characteristics of the two birds 

 are the same; but the western is smaller, has less white, 

 and the white is not so pure. He does not lie so well to 

 the dog, and is more fond of brush and thickets. His 

 flight is swifter and more erratic, and to bag him requires 

 harder work and better shooting. 



Transport him to the rich grain fields of the east, 

 remove from him the constant apprehension of the attacks 

 of hawks, skunks, and foxes, and he might in a few 

 generations become the same bird. The richer food 

 would probably increase his bulk, the comparative safety 

 induce him to live in the open fields rather than in 

 thickets, and thus getting more sun he might lighten in 

 colour. 



This quail is found in immense numbers on nearly all 

 the streams which water the plains from the Arkansas 

 River to the Gulf of Mexico, and the wilder and more 

 unsettled country the more decidedly does he differ from 

 the ' Bob White.' 



Except when found in or driven into grass he will, 

 in the wild countries, scarcely he to a dog at all. He 

 delights in thickets of wild plum, rose, or sunflower, and 



