?48 THE CONDOR I VOL. V a single bird separated quietly from the flock, and running to the foot of a fence post at S 2 reached the top by a short flight. At this point of my observations I be- came very much interested, anxiously waiting for the lone bird at S x to rejoin the flock, as proof of my theory that the whole performance was prearranged and intentional, and not of an accidental nature, and after a minute or so the bird quietly did so. To say the least I was delighted, for here was something worth following up. That these birds were schemers, I had had to previously acknowledge after many a hard day's unsuccessful tramp after them, but to find out that that they had a well organized system of protecting themselves while feeding out in open ground was an eye-opener. From E they followed the dotted course, crossing their original line of travel and moving slowly, finally disappeared into the brush fence at G on their way to the old apple orchard. After some little time the lone quail at S ? al?o left his post and was lost to sight with the rest of the bunch. My initial interview with the valley quail in their own homes had proved successful beyond my expectations and and I had been able to keep close track of all their movements and that too when they were some distance from any shelter. Such ideal conditions for observation and study do not always occur and the wonder was that there was not some kind of an interruptinn. That the facts of the case were just as stated and not mere guess work on my part, I have proved several times since then, sometimes by accidental observations and sometimes by a good deal of perseverance, and only as recently as January 25th, of this year, I watched a flock of valley quail slowly pass through a small orange orchard up in one of the Santa Barbara canyons, in their course crossing a country wagon road in perfect unconcern, while alone quail on the top of a fence- post "sentineled" the procession from his position. These tactics are adopted only when the flock wishes to feed or pass through some more or less open piece of ground, I believe, for although I have watched them repeatedly when they were in the timber, I have never yet seen them put out a sentry. The most frequent instances in which I have noticed this sentineling has been when they were feeding or dusting themselves along a much used road, for in other cases where cover is close at hand they seem to rely on it more, but during the mating season I have had female quail come within ten and once within five feet of me, fearlessly looking under or into old logs or brush heaps for a possible nest- ing place, while the male bird perched on an uprooted stump or log and kept the keenest kind of a gaze on me, from his position thirty or more feet away from me. Under such conditions of observation the observer must become like the stone or tree against whic',? he rests .n)tionless, and this is why I said in the first place that a student of valley quail must put up with a great deal, but in the end he is amply repaid for the time and trouble he has been put to. Whether the male bird alone acts as sentinel I am unable to say, and leave it to future study, but hereafter when you see one quail perched alone and in full view, you can be sure that in most cases the flock is close by, so don't shoot him because he is such an easy mark. In regard to this habit seen in other'kinds of game birds, I have no knowl- edge, but although [ have studied our mountain,qnail i(Oreorlyx p. plurntferus) a great deal, I have never come across anything that would indicate the occurence of this habit in the species.
