I've always been of the opinion that animals have and show feelings for
their fellows and this was exhibited again this morning. Kei and I were
going into town and passed a crumpled bunch of feathers in the road. At
the same moment a female California Quail ran out to the feathers and
stood by them almost to the second we passed before running back to the
safety of the ditch and again after we passed I could see her running
back into traffic to 'stand by her man' so to speak. We turned around
and returned to the dead male quail which I picked up and tossed towards
the calling female. We left before observing whether the female again
came to be with her mate.
We've all seen and heard of similar examples and have heard the general
'poo-poos' of people who don't understand. We do, understand, that is.
Kevin Smith
