VALLEF QUAIL 519 



^ Valley Quail are notably active birds and are usually busy through- 

 out the daylight hours. They spend the night, not in a circle on the 

 ground as do the Bobwhite, but in a bush or thickly foliaged tree, 

 where they are less accessible to ground-dwelling predators. With 

 the first streak of dawn they are awake, and, flying down to the 

 ground, usually gather together and go to drink at some near-by pool 

 or stream. This done, the work of gathering the day's rations is 

 commenced, and while performed in what may seem to be a leisurely 

 fashion, it occupies them during most of the day. They interrupt 

 it only for the purpose of going again to water, a habit made necessary 

 by the great proportion of hard material in their food, or, in the 

 extreme heat of the day, to rest— in a sort of siesta. In the late after- 

 noon of rainless days they may often be seen in some sunny spot ' ' dust- 

 bathing," or preening their feathers. As evening approaches they 

 again seek the shelter from which they departed in the morning. 

 Dixon (1906, p. 95) records that a flock which came to roost in a 

 small elder tree near his camp in the San Onofre Mountains, San 

 Diego County, arrived with surprising regularity. In eight days 

 they did not vary more than ten minutes either way from 6:15 p.m. 

 "On rainy or cloudy days they were seven or eight minutes early 

 and on bright clear afternoons they were a little late. ..." 



When hunted, the members of a flock of quail will often wait until 

 the sportsman is almost upon them, whereupon they will spring from 

 the ground, and, with a whir of wings as rapid as it is startling, make 

 off ia different directions and drop into the protecting cover of 

 shrubbery. Again on the ground, they make good use of their legs 

 and run rapidly off. Hunters state that only when thoroughly 

 frightened will quail crouch and attempt to escape by concealment. 

 If flushed in the vicinity of trees they will often take shelter in the 

 thick foliage of these, where they remain quiet and are not to be easily 

 discovered. When excited they run with surprising rapidity, their 

 topknots down, necks craned forward and legs fairly stretching; but 

 when concerned only with their own business they are more sedate, 

 carrying their heads erect, with the plumes directed upward and 

 forward, in a dignified manner. 



Feeding flocks of quail are believed to post sentinels in order that 

 all of the members may not be put to the, necessity of dividing their 

 attention between the search for food and guarding against surprise 

 by an enemy. Williams (1903, pp. 146-148) has described this habit 

 as observed by him, in detail, somewhat as follows : 



A flock was heard calling and moving about on a brushy hillside 

 some distance from the observer, but before coming into view a single 

 individual preceded the rest and took his station in the branches of 

 an apple tree, whence he could survey the region round about. After 



