162 Life in the Open 



A striking feature is the chestnut-hued throat, black 

 banded, surrounded in turn with a pure white band and 

 on the sides pronounced bars of black, chestnut and 

 white. 



I did not move, and they came on until within six 

 feet of me, gazing with their gentle brown eyes, looking 

 me over, examining my gun, and evidently deciding 

 that I was some kind of a sportsman, but harmless. As 

 they paused, I uttered a low whistle and they turned, 

 each lifting its head, as though to catch the sound, and 

 then like magic they melted away. If any one has the 

 fancy for the hardest kind of hunting, in the hardest 

 kind of country, I can commend this, as the birds while 

 often seen in the foothills are found principally in the 

 thickest chaparral of the upper ranges, and to follow 

 them requires, at least did when I knew them, the most 

 difficult climbing. 



The nest of this quail has been found hardly a mile 

 from my home, four miles from the base of the Sierra 

 Madre ; but the nests are not easy to find and are mostly 

 in the heart of the great range where nature has afforded 

 them ample protection. 



There is still another quail in Southern California, 

 the quail of the desert, or Gambel's partridge, found 

 principally in Arizona, but also on the borders of the 

 desert where it merges into the high mountains of 

 California. In many ways the bird resembles the valley 

 quail, and its habits are similar, though it has the desert 

 habit and seems to love the regions that man avoids, the 



