gambel's quail 81 



at hand, are by no means loud ; yet it is perfectly astonishing to what a distance 

 they may be heard when the day is calm and still. There was to me something 

 extremely plaintive in this simple love-song, which I heard for the first time 

 during a day of burning heat passed upon the desert. 



Again he writes: 



Later in the season, when a covey is dispersed, the cry for assembling is 

 " qua-el," " qua-el." The voice at all seasons bears much resemblance to that 

 of the California Partridge — having, in its intonation, no similarity to the 

 whistle of the Virginia or common partridge. 



Bendire (1892) gives the mating call of the male as " yuk-kae-ja, 

 yuk-kae-ja, each syllable distinctly articulated and the last two some- 

 what drawn out." Another note, given while moving about in 

 coveys, "resembled the grunting of a sucking pig more than any- 

 thing else, and it is rather difficult to reproduce the exact sound in 

 print. Any of the following syllables resembles it, quoit, oit, woet, 

 uttered rapidly but in a low tone. The alarm note is a sharp, dis- 

 cordant craer, craer, several times rapidly repeated, and is usually 

 uttered by the entire covey almost simultaneously." 



Dr. Joseph Grinnell (1904) quotes from Joseph Mailliard's notes, 

 as follows: 



The notes of the desert quail differ from those of the valley quail in variety, 

 and to a certain extent in character, though they have some notes in common. 

 The " crow " of the latter consists of three notes, varying in length and accent 

 according to the call given, in one case the last note being a falling one. The 

 " crow " of the desert quail, while rather similar to the other, has two addi- 

 tional notes at the end, rendered in a softer tone. Besides the alarm calls the 

 valley quail has a few twittering or conversational notes, while the other species 

 bas a lot of these, quite varied and often given in a way that seems remarkably 

 loud to one accustomed only to the notes of the former. Another peculiarity of 

 the desert quail is the queer sound that it makes as it rises from the ground on 

 being surprised into flight — the sort of screeching cackle, on a small scale, that 

 a hen makes when frightened from her nest. 



Game. — Although Gambel's quail is a plump and delicious morsel 

 for the table, it is an exasperating bird to hunt. It loves the thickest 

 and thorniest cover and frequents the roughest and hardest country, 

 through which it runs, and keeps on running, faster than a man can 

 follow; often it will take refuge in a rocky creek bed or canyon, 

 where it is hopeless to follow. What few I have shot have required 

 more vigorous leg exercise than they were worth and usually had to 

 be shot on the run. When flushed in the open it flies swiftly and 

 requires good shooting. The birds will not lie to a dog, so the best 

 bird dogs are utterly useless in hunting them, except as retrievers. 



In past years these quail were an important item in the market 

 hunter's game bag. Herbert Brown (1900) was informed by an 



