GAMBEL'S QUAIL 103 



his ditty at such times is a medley of odd notes, sound- 

 ing rather lugubrious than hilarious, but it is presum- 

 ably satisfactory to the one most concerned. So the 

 long days pass, for two weeks or more, till feeble cries 

 come from the nest; the mother dries and cuddles the 

 curious little things, and the delighted birds, brimful of 

 joy, lead their family off in search- of food. 



"From the number of eggs sometimes found in a 

 nest it becomes a question whether birds, hard pressed, 

 may not occasionally deposit in nests not their own. 

 We have no positive evidence that it may occur, but 

 observation has rendered it highly probable, and such 

 is the case with some other birds, as the rails and, I 

 think, the Virginia quail. However this may be, it is 

 pretty certain that broods of young sometimes coalesce 

 at a varying time after hatching. I do not remember 

 to have myself seen a covey of more than twenty, but 

 it is currently reported upon good authority that troops 

 numbering as many as fifty partly grown birds, and 

 including several old ones, may be met with. This 

 raises, of course, the question of polygamy, so common 

 in birds of this order, and something may be said in 

 favor of the view. The same surmise has been made 

 in the case of L. calif ornicus, but I believe it remains 

 to be proven. I am bound to observe that I have never 

 witnessed anything supporting this view. . . . 



"Man is, I suppose, the quail's worst enemy; what 

 the White does with dog and gun the Red accomplishes 

 with ingenious snares. The Indians take great num- 

 bers alive in this way, for food or to trade with the 



