218 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
young. The old bird disappeared after giving several sharp cries of 
alarm, and the young also disappeared in an open patch of short grass. 
On reaching the place I began looking about carefully and soon saw one 
young bird flattened down, with not only its little body but its head and 
neck also pressed close against the ground, its downy plumage blending 
in well with the color of the ground and the dead grass stems.” There 
it lay, pressed close to the ground until approached within three feet 
when, “it suddenly started up with sharp peeping cries, and the entire 
brood which had scattered and hidden in an area about fifteen feet 
across, half ran, half flew into some thick bushes where they were more 
securely hidden” (MS). 
Although protective coloration and attitudes partly serve their pur¬ 
poses, protective cover is still vitally important, for as Mr. Ligon has 
found, “Prairie Falcons, Cooper Hawks, Roadrunners, snakes, skunks, 
wildcats, and coyotes all take their toll of these birds or their eggs”; in 
the northern part of their range, Magpies destroy both eggs and young; 
and over much of their range, hail, cold rains, and winter storms deplete 
their numbers. 
The entire life of the Scaled Quail is spent in the environment to 
which it is so well adapted, but in the fall it is sometimes found a few 
hundred feet higher than in the nesting season. The duration of the 
nesting season is very irregular, but in favorable years two or possibly 
three broods may be raised. In seasons of long drought no young are 
seen, but with the first rains there is great excitement, the pairs busily 
calling and nest making. In southern New Mexico the first eggs have 
been reported early in May, but on the other hand, downy young were 
found by Mr. Bailey, in Santa Clara Canyon, on August 31, 1900; and 
on September 22, 1924, an Indian boy showed Mr. Jensen a nest on the 
U. S. Indian School field under a sage bush which contained ten eggs on 
the verge of hatching. As it was at an altitude of 7,000 feet and several 
days before the nest was found ice had formed a quarter of an inch thick 
on quiet pools, some fortuitous circumstance must have led to the phe¬ 
nomenally late nesting. When the young are raised these delightful little 
Cotton-tops go about in small flocks visiting water holes and river bot¬ 
toms. Picking up insects, seeds, and berries as they go, they wander 
through brushy arroyas, over juniper-clad foothills, cactus flats, and 
sagebrush or mesquite plains calling to each other with a nasal pay-cos , 
pay-cos , which by long association comes to take on the charm attaching 
both to the gentle-eyed birds themselves and to the fascinating arid land 
in which they make their homes. 
GAMBEL QUAIL: Lophortyx gambeli gambeli Gambel 
Plate 19 
Description. — Length: About 9.5-10 inches, wing 4.4-4.7, tail 4.1-4.7, tarsus 
1.2. Adult male: Head with long black decurved plume (about 1.5 inches); 
