California Quail 143 



California Quail. Lophortyx calif or nicus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 294^Colorado Records— Drew 85, p. 14 ; Cooke 

 97, pp. 69, 202 ; Judd 05, p. 47 ; Rockwell 08, p. 47 ; Cary 09, p. 180. 



Description — Male — Above slaty-blue with an olive wash on the 

 wings and pale tawny edges to the secondaries and tertiaries ; head 

 with a characteristic club-shai>ed crest of several glossy-black feathers ; 

 forehead whitish, continued as a line over the eye, bounded posteriorly 

 by black ; occiput brown ; . ides of the face and throat black, bordered 

 by white ; sides and back of the neck mottled with black edges and 

 white spots ; breast slaty-blue ; rest of the under-parts tawny-olive, 

 rufous, white and black, the latter chiefly in narrow cross-bands. 

 Length 10-0 ; wing 4-5 ; tail 3-75 ; culmen -5 ; tarsus 1-15. 



The female has the head dull brown above and the throat rather 

 paler and streaked, but no definite markings ; it is also without the 

 rufous on the abdomen ; young in first plumage have white, black- 

 bordered shaft-Unes above, angular white spots on the breast and 

 obscure grey bars on the belly. 



Distribution. — The lower transition and upper sonoran zones of the 

 Pacific coastlands from Oregon to Monterey co, in California. Intro- 

 duced into Washington and British Columbia and many other parts of 

 the world. 



The California Quail has been introduced and has increased and 

 thoroughly established itself in many parts of Colorado, especially in 

 the neighbourhood of Denver, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction. 

 About the last-mentioned place they have become so abundant that the 

 farmers are beginning to complain. They have spread up the Gunnison 

 Valley as far as Hotchkiss, and have also been introduced and have 

 spread in Montezuma co. 



Habits. — Miss Eggleston, quoted by Rockwell, says : 

 " A few years ago these birds were introduced near 

 Grand Junction, and have multiplied rapidly. They 

 make their nests under the piles of pruned branches 

 from the orchards and bring out large broods. One 

 hen has been seen with twenty-three chicks, of two 

 distinct broods. They are very tame, sitting on the 

 fence -posts or trees by the roadside, and caUing noisily 

 to one another. They feed early in the morning, and 

 large numbers of them can be driven from the gardens." 



The California Quail undoubtedly does eat and 

 damage grapes, though in other respects it does useful 



