102 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



listens, but draws away; she listens, but only stands 

 irresolute ; she listens, and, listening, yields. 



"They must prepare for new duties. With deep 

 sense of responsibility and earnest solicitude the pair 

 now cast about for a suitable spot for their home. They 

 search through the tall, rank herbage alongside the 

 stream, through the willow copses, among fallen moss- 

 covered logs that are scattered around the glen, and 

 at length make up their minds. Little more is needed 

 than to fix upon the spot, for the nest is a simple affair, 

 the work of a few hours, perhaps, scratching a suitable 

 depression and lining it with a few dried grasses 

 pressed together. Day by day eggs are laid, till a dozen 

 or more fill the nest. They cannot be distinguished 

 from those of the California quail. They measure an 

 inch and a quarter in length by an inch in breadth, 

 and are almost pyramidal in shape, the larger end flat- 

 tish and very broad, the other narrow and pointed. 

 The color is a buff, or rich cream, dotted and spotted 

 all over with bright brown, and splashed here and 

 there with large blotches of the same. When the fe- 

 male is not pressed to lay, the pair ramble about to- 

 gether in close company until the complement is fin- 

 ished. Then she gives up all recreation, grown already 

 quite sober and maternal, and resolutely sets about her 

 long tour of duty. But she is not forgotten because she 

 can no longer share the idle pleasures of her lord. 

 Mounted on a stump or bush near by, he stands watch, 

 and continually solaces her with the best music he can 

 make. It is not very harmonious, to be sure; in fact, 



