50 Dr. E. Coues —Field Notes on Lophortyx gambeli. 
• 
is exhaled from their fresh bodies ! Should the suddenly snapped 
thread of home-thoughts float again before your mind, I am 
sure you will exclaim, between a sigh and a smile, “ There are 
some things worth leaving home for, and ornithology is one of 
them !” 
Beautiful to the eye, soft to the touch, fragrant to the smell, 
delicate to the palate, indeed, is the Plumed Quail—a superb 
bird. Since the first one I saw, years ago, stuffed, and awkwardly 
nailed to a bit of board to “ grace 99 a museum, I have always 
admired them; and now that I have seen them alive, in their 
homes, and handled them before the brightness of their eyes 
was dimmed, and kept the little chicks as pets, I love and ad¬ 
mire them the more, and think there is scarcelv another bird 
in our country so beautiful. Their form is plump and rounded, 
though without the slightest trace of dumpiness; for their 
necks and tails are very long, their heads small, and the elegant 
recurved plume gives their whole bearing an appearance of 
graceful pride. Their carriage is firm and erect, but at the 
same time light and easy. It is a beautiful sight to see the 
male bird strutting proudly, with erect head, flashing eyes, and 
quivering plume, along the fallen log beneath which his little 
family are snugly hidden. So brave and so weak; so full of 
the will to protect them, so wanting in the power ! Among 
men is there a situation that fills us with warmer admiration, 
yet affects us more sadly, than this very one ? The colours, 
too, of the bird are no less pleasing than is its form. There 
is, indeed, no gorgeous display of colour, no flashing lustre 
or changing of tints; yet the harmonious blending of some, 
the artistic contrast of others, together produce rare beauty. 
Formed to please the naturalist, the artist, and the sports¬ 
man—three types of men by no means very dissimilar— 
the Plumed Quail has yet other charms; for in the fragrant 
odour and delicious flavour of its soft white flesh an epicure of 
the most capricious taste cannot fail to be abundantly satisfied. 
And with a disposition as amiable and peaceful as its colours 
and form are beautiful, there is nothing to be scored against its 
long list of good qualities. Could but one of our species attain 
to its innocent perfection ! 
