THE GAME BREEDER 



173 



also at various points thence to the Rio 

 Grande. In the valley of this river it is 

 very rarely seen, giving way apparently 

 to the Scaly and Gambel's partridges. 

 West of the river it was very common 

 as far as we traveled, wherever there 

 was fresh and permanent water. In the 

 valley of the Santa Cruz River, and 

 among the adjacent hills, it was extreme- 

 ly abundant. In the months of June and 

 July it was observed there, always in 

 pairs, while in Texas, in the months of 

 October and November, it was found in 

 very large flocks, sometimes of various 

 ages, from the very small and partly 

 fledged to the full-grown bird. When 

 hunted it hides itself very closely in the 

 grass, and I have often known Mexican 

 soldiers in Sonora to kill them with their 

 lances, by striking them either while on 

 the ground or just as they rise. Some 

 of these men are very expert in this 

 business, and will kill many in the course 

 of a day's travel." — C. B. R. Kennedy. 



It is not difficult to gain from these 

 accounts a pretty definite idea of the 

 range of the species in the United States, 

 though we do not know how far south it 

 penetrates in Mexico, which is really its 

 native country. We have no record of 

 it as yet as a bird of California. To the 

 indications of its range in Texas and 

 New Mexico. I have only to add, as just 

 now done, its occurrence in Arizona at 

 Fort Whipple, a locality at some dis- 

 tance from those previously recorded, 

 and further north, as well as west, than 

 any before known. There it is rare, as 

 stated, nor do I think that the species 

 can be very abundant even in the south- 

 ern portions of the Territory, unless it 

 be at the southeast corner. 



We see that none of "the fragmentary 

 published accounts are more than isolated 

 facts of an imperfect history ; yet they do 

 good service as contributions towards a 

 biography. The bird is mentioned as an 

 inhabitant of the most barren, desolate 

 and unfrequented regions, as well as the 

 vicinity of cultivated ranches ; as very 

 unusually tame, or quite wild ; as occur- 

 ring in pairs or in flocks; each account 

 being circumstantial and limited. But 

 this very diversity of statement helps to a 

 knowledge of the bird ; and here, 



as elsewhere, I cannot refrain from 

 pressing the importance of the rec- 

 ord of any facts whatever, however 

 isolated, that may be gleaned by 

 personal observation upon the habits and 

 manners of birds, no matter how small 

 and unpromising the field, or how often 

 it has been gone over before. Any in- 

 formation, so be it that it is accurate, is 

 better than none; though still it should 

 be remembered that ex parte statements 

 are liable to mislead, particularly when 

 used in generalization, the inductive not 

 being in natural history, as it is in the 

 more exact sciences, always a safe 

 method of reasoning. 



There are two points in the history of 

 this species to which attention may profit- 

 ably be directed. One is the bird's re- 

 markable unsophistication. Living in 

 what we should consider lonely desola- 

 tion, but which is to it a happy home, the 

 bird has not yet learned to throw aside 

 the gentle, confiding disposition its 

 Maker gave. No contact with the lords 

 of the universe, guardians of civilization 

 and progress, jobbers in ethics and aes- 

 thetics, has yet begotten in its ingenious 

 nature the wholesome change that the 

 requirements of self-preservation will 

 some day demand, and which it will in- 

 stinctively adopt. Birds that live in pop- 

 ulous districts have had a lesson to learn 

 of bitter experience, and its fruits have 

 been instilled through generation after 

 generation, till a second nature replaces 

 the first, and a shrewd distrust of the 

 whole human race is instilled. It is a 

 nauseous dose that these quail, like inno- 

 cent children, have to swallow ; but the 

 medicine acts vigorously and beneficially, 

 heart-longings and soul-tbreathings, and 

 the like, giving way to something more 

 substantial and sensible. Some day a 

 fine old cock Massena shall say to his 

 family, "timeo Danaos et dona ferentes ;" 

 the newly-born wisdom shall take well, 

 and become gospel to succeeding gener- 

 ations, to outlive in the code of quail 

 ethics the memory of the Aeneid in the 

 minds of men. 



We are familiar with the structural 

 peculiarities of the Massena quail, and 

 it is not likely that these deviations from 



