How she survives, I do not know.

She is small, slow, flightless, and gives no evidence of being very smart.

She appeared with another of her kind two months ago.  The other disappeared shortly thereafter, and we've no idea where they came from to begin with.

But two months later, she continues to appear in our front yard, looking for seed that falls from the bird feeders.

Every evening I think must surely be her last. 

I call her Little Quail.

I gave thought to capturing her and thus extending her life, feeding her Purina quail food or something.

But then I thought better.

God knows how she survives the evenings, when the foxes, skunks, coyotes, and bobcats begin to prowl.  Maybe she hides right under my nose, under the large ferns on the porch.

But she survives, alone of her kind, and when she is gone I will be sorry.

But I will be glad that she survived living free.

Image courtesy Wikipedia: brown quail