84 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



LOPHORTYX GAMBELI SANUS Mearns 

 OLATHE QUAIL 



HABITS 



The Gambel's quail of southwestern Colorado has been described 

 by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns (1914) as "rather larger than the average" 

 of Arizona birds, from which "it differs in coloration as follows: 

 Adult male with upper parts neutral gray (Ridgway, 1912), un- 

 washed with olive; crown chestnut-brown instead of hazel; chest- 

 patch cartridge buff instead of warm buff or chamois. Adult female 

 with upper parts as in the male, differing from gambelii and fulvi- 

 pectus in having the crown darker (sepia instead of cinnamon 

 drab) ; chin and throat darker and more grayish; chest and abdomen 

 pale olive-buff instead of cream color." 



The type specimen came from Montrose County, but it seems to 

 be a rare bird even there. Its habits are probably no different from 

 those of the species elsewhere. 



CYRTONYX MONTEZUMAE MEARNSI Nelson 



MEARNS'S QUAIL 



HABITS 



One of the handsomest and certainly the most oddly marked of the 

 North American quails presents a bizarre appearance when closely 

 examined ; one look at its conspicuously marked face would brand it 

 as a clown among birds; its dark-colored breast is contrary to the 

 laws of protective coloration and would make it very conspicuous 

 on open ground. But when one tries to find it in its native haunts, 

 squatting close to the ground among thick underbrush, weeds, and 

 grass, one realizes that its dark belly and spotted flanks are completely 

 concealed, that the grotesquely painted face becomes obliterated 

 among the sharp lights and shadows, and that the prettily marked 

 back matches its surroundings so well that the bird is nearly invisible. 



Mearns's quail has been called the " fool quail " because it has 

 learned to trust this wonderful protective coloration and lie close, 

 rather than trust to its legs or its wings to escape. How successful 

 it has been nobody knows. The only two I ever saw I almost stepped 

 on before they flew, and I wonder how man}' more I walked near 

 without knowing it. I question whether it is as much of a fool as it 

 is said to be. It lives in different haunts and has developed different 

 habits from its neighbors, the scaled and Gambel's quails. Its shape 

 and carriage, its white-spotted sides, and its habit of clucking as it 

 walks or feeds have suggested a possible relationship with the guinea 

 fowls. 



