Bob IVhite, the Game Bird of America. 



n 



671 



CALIFORNIA VALLEY PARTRIDGE OR QUAIL. (l.OPHORTYX CALIFORNIA'S.) 



little ones to some place removed from the thicket, where prowl the 

 fox and the weasel. Soon after being hatched, the young, in run- 

 ning, assist themselves with their tiny wings, and when two weeks 

 old they take wing with a flutter that is very amusing to those 

 familiar with the startling whir of the old birds. When too large to 

 gather under the mother, they take their flight at night-fall from the 

 stubble or grain-field where they have been feeding, and thus, break* 

 ing the scent, drop down in a compact cloud into some open space 

 under a bush or tussock, and cozily huddling up to one another, form 

 a little circle with their heads outward. Thus nestled, they see on 

 all sides, and can spring at a moment from their bed to evade any 

 foe that may steal on them in the night or at the early dawn. If the 



