156 Life in the Open 





 bird a most Monnaire appearance. In colour they 



were a mass of blue ash or slate, with striped chestnut 

 hues below, with flashes of sun gold, white, black, and 

 tan. The throat of the male was black, and he had a 

 white " eyebrow " and a collar of white around his black 

 throat, a radiant little creature, a pheasant in its colour 

 scheme, and the incident of our meeting well illustrates 

 the habit of the little bird. I did not fire ; one cannot 

 shoot down a neighbour in cold blood, if the laws do 

 permit. Some of these birds nest in an adjacent garden, 

 and I can often hear the melody of their notes in the 

 Arroyo, or the thunder of their wings as they rise from 

 the open and plunge down into the depths of the deep 

 abyss. So, if one must have quail without compunc- 

 tions of conscience, he goes away from home, out into 

 the country in the unsettled districts where there is 

 sport of the finest quality. When I first came to 

 Southern California, plumed quail could be found every- 

 where. They lived in all the caftons and little valleys 

 of the foothills, and held high revelry in the openings 

 where the gravel of the wash spread out, fan-like, and 

 merged into the low chaparral. Their flute-like notes 

 could be heard at all times whit-w hit-whit when 

 you were near, and when far away the loud, screeching 

 clarion challenge of the male po-/#-toe, po-ta-toe, or 

 ca-^-cow. But the fencing up of the country, the 

 growth of towns, has pushed the little birds out of back 

 yards, and to obtain good sport the outlying country 

 must be tried, where the dainty birds are found in vast 



