352 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 
eggs. We do not know that any have been reared, 
but no doubt this might readily enough be done, were 
proper care exercised. 
GAMBEL’S QUAIL 
Dr. Coues, in an article in the Jbis many years ago, 
said of the shooting of this bird in its home: 
“Compared with the eastern quail (O. virginianus), 
from the sportsman’s standpoint, Gambel’s plumed quail 
is more difficult to kill. Not that it rises with more 
startling suddenness, or flies faster, for I noticed no 
material differences in these respects; but when a bevy 
is flushed, and one, or at most two, birds secured, it 
is exceedingly difficult, and usually only by chance, that 
other shots are obtained; for except under certain cir- 
cumstances, they lie very badly, and when they drop 
after being for the first time started it is, usually, not 
to squat and remain hidden, but to run as fast and far 
as possible; so that, if found at all, it will be dozens of 
yards from where they were marked down. This pro- 
pensity to run, which is also a great obstacle to their 
being flushed within proper distance, is exceedingly 
troublesome both to the sportsman and his dog; so 
much so, that the best trained dogs can often be of lit- 
tle or no service. It is true that this habit of running 
affords many shots on the ground, and often places 
the whole bevy directly under fire, but no true sports- 
man would thus ingloriously fill his bag by potting a 
bevy of such noble game birds. Like all their tribe, 
