82 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



express agent that 3,000 dozen quail were shipped out of Salt River 

 Valley in 1889 and 1890. He says further : 



The Mohawk valley, in Yuma county, is probably the most prolific breeding 

 spot in the territory. It was, at one time, a favorite place for trappers and 

 pot-hunters, and it was not until the game law had been amended that their 

 nefarious practices were broken up. In six weeks, in the fall of 1894, no less 

 than 1,300 dozens were shipped to San Francisco and other California markets. 

 The price at first realized, so I was told by the shippers, was $1.12% per dozen, 

 but later GO cents only were realized. The Quail were trapped, their throats cut, 

 then sacked and shipped by express. I was told by one of the parties so 

 engaged that he and his partner caught 77 dozens in one day. They used eight 

 traps and baited with barley. Their largest catch in one trap, at one time, was 

 11 dozens. At the meeting of the next legislature the game law was again 

 amended, and it was made a misdemeanor to trap, snare, or ship Quail or 

 Partridges from the Territory. This effectually stopped the merciless slaughter 

 of the gamiest bird in Arizona — Gambel's Partridge. 



Enemies. — Coues (1874) -writes: 



Man is, I suppose, the Quail's worst enemy; what the White does with dog 

 and gun the Red accomplishes with ingenious snares. The Indians take great 

 numbers alive in this way, for food or to trade with the whites along the 

 Colorado ; and they use the crests for a variety of purposes that they consider 

 ornamental. I saw a squaw once who had at least a hundred of them strung on 

 a piece of rope-yarn for a necklace. But the birds have other foes ; the larger 

 Hawks prey upon them, so also do the wolves, as I have had good evidence upon 

 one occasion, when hunting in a precipitous, rocky place near Fort Whipple. 

 I heard a covey whispering about me as they started to run off in the weeds, and 

 followed them up to get a shot. They passed around a huge boulder that 

 projected from the hill-side, and then, to my surprise, suddenly scattered on 

 wing in every direction, some flying almost in my face. At the same instant 

 a wolf leaped up from the grass, where he had been hiding, a few feet off, 

 intending to waylay the covey, and looking very much disappointed, not to say 

 disgusted, at the sudden flight. 



The quail have numerous other enemies. Coyotes, foxes, wildcats, 

 and various hawks and owls kill the old birds and young; even the 

 little pigmy owl has been known to kill an adult Gambel's quail. 

 Skunks, rats, rock squirrels, snakes, Gila monsters, and even land 

 terrapins eat the eggs. Fortunately these quail are prolific breeders, 

 so they are not exterminated. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The 

 range of Gambel's quail extends north to southern California (rarely 

 Los Angeles, Hesperia, and Daggett) ; southern Nevada (Ash 

 Meadows and Pahranagat Valley) ; southern Utah (Hamblin, Har- 

 mony, and Fruita) ; Arizona (Cedar Ridge, Roosevelt, Nantan 

 Plateau, and Blue); and central Texas (Eagle Springs). East 

 to southwestern New Mexico (Socorro and Las Cruces) ; central 



