DESERT QUAIL 541 



the foot of a mesquite. It contained twelve fresh eggs. According 

 to Swarth (MS) the Desert Quail not uncommonly lays its eggs in 

 places other than the usual ground site of quail in general, an aban- 

 doned nest of a thrasher or cactus wren in the choUa cactus being 

 sometimes flattened down and used. Bendire (1892, p. 32) found 

 a set of ten eggs near Tucson, Arizona, in an old Roadrunner's nest 

 about five feet above the ground in a mesquite tree. Apparently a 

 little additional lining had been contributed by the quail. Breninger 

 (1897, p. 122) records the finding of a nest near Phoenix, Arizona, 

 containing six eggs and situated in a hollow of a mesquite trunk 

 several feet from the ground and eighteen inches from the opening 

 of the cavity. The cavity was much the same as would be chosen by 

 one of the larger owls. 



The eggs of the Desert Quail resemble those of the Valley Quail 

 in shape, but are decidedly different in coloration. The ground-color 

 is white or creamy white, with dots and irregular spots of dark pur- 

 plish brown {not golden brown). Bendire (1892, p. 34) found the 

 extremes of size in a large number of the eggs of the Desert Quail to be 

 (millimeters changed here to inches) 1.12 by 0.95 and 1.34 by 1.02, 

 with an average of 1.24 by 0.95. The complete set contains from ten 

 to seventeen eggs, but the average comes nearer a dozen. Incubation 

 is said to last from about 21 to 24 days, and does not begin until all 

 the eggs are laid, these being deposited daily (Bendire, 1892, p. 32). 

 Two broods are thought by some to be reared in one season (Leo 

 Wiley, MS., and Bendire, loc. cit.) ; this, however, is not likely to be 

 the regular thing. Immediately after the breeding season young and 

 old collect into flocks of large size, said to number on occasion up to 

 100 or even 500. 



The young are truly precocious. Coues (1874, pp. 436-437) says 

 of them : 



They run about as soon as they are hatched, though probably not "with half 

 shell on their backs," as some one has said. In a few days they become very 

 nimble, and so expert in hiding that it is difficult either to see or catch them. 

 When the mother bird is surprised with her young brood, she gives a sharp warn- 

 ing cry, that is well understood to mean danger, and then generally flies a little 

 distance to some concealed spot, where she crouches, anxiously watching. The 

 fledglings . . . instantly scatter in all directions, and squat . . . motionless until 

 the reassuring notes of the mother call them together again, with an intimation 

 that the alarm is over. Then they huddle close around her, and she carefully 

 leads them off to some other spot, where she looks for greater security ... in the 

 enjoyment of her hopes and pleasing cares. As long as they require the parent's 

 attention they keep close together, and are averse to flying. Even after becoming 

 able to use their wings well, they prefer to run and hide, or squat where they 

 may be, when alarmed. If then forced up, the young covey flies off, without sep- 

 arating, to a little distance, often realighting on the lower limbs of trees or in 

 bushes, rather than on the ground. As they grow older and strong of wing, they 



