gambel's quail 77 



I once found a Gambel quail sitting on 16 eggs laid in a Palmer thrasher's 

 nest 5 feet up in a cholla sheltered by a large sycamore. The bird sat very 

 close. On another occasion I found several eggs of this quail in the nest 

 of a Palmer thrasher and the thrasher sitting on them and her own three eggs. 



Major Bendire (1892) writes: 



The nest of Gambel's Partridge is simply a slight oval-shaped hollow, 

 scratched out in the sandy soil of the bottom lands, usually alongside of a 

 bunch of " sacaton," a species of tall rye grass, the dry stems and blades of 

 last year's growth hanging down on all sides of the new growth and hiding 

 the nest well from view. Others are placed under, or in a pile of, brush or 

 drift brought down from the mountains by freshets and lodged against some 

 old stump, the roots of trees, or other obstructions on some of the numerous 

 islands in the now dry creek beds, refreshing green spots amid a dreary waste 

 of sand. According to my observations only a comparatively small number 

 resort to the cactus and yucca covered foothills and mesas some distance back, 

 where the nests are usually placed under the spreading leaves of one of the 

 latter named plants. If grain fields are near by they nest sometimes amidst 

 the growing grain in these, and should the latter be surrounded by brush 

 fences, these also furnish favorite nesting sites. 



Among the nests observed by me two were placed in situations above 

 ground. One of these was found June 2 on top of a good-sized rotten willow 

 stump, about 2*A feet from the ground, in a slight decayed depression in its 

 center, which had, perhaps, been enlarged by the bird. The eggs were 

 laid on a few dry Cottonwood leaves, and were partly covered by these. 

 Another pair appropriated an old Road-runner's nest, Oeococcyx caU/ornianus, 

 in a mesquite tree, about 5 feet from the ground, to which apparently a little 

 additional lining had been added by the bird. The nest contained 10 fresh 

 eggs when found on June 27, 1872. 



M. French Gilman (1915) found this quail quite tame and confid- 

 ing, nesting in much-frequented localities, for he says : 



Two nests were in the school woodpile, containing 19 and 13 eggs, respec- 

 tively. Another, in a pile of short boards and kindling about 10 feet from 

 the school woodshed, had 7 eggs in it. The nest out in the fields had 9 eggs, 

 and was at the base of a Lycium bush. About the middle of June I put some 

 straw in an old nail keg, open at one end, and placed it on its side in the 

 forks of a mesquite tree about two feet from the ground. The mesquite had 

 some saplings starting from the trunk that sheltered the keg. June 24, I 

 found that a quail had moved in and had laid two eggs. Later she completed 

 the set, only eight eggs, and successfully hatched all but one. She was quite 

 tame on the nest, and would not be scared off by any mild measures. I 

 tried hammering on the rear of the keg, rolling it gently and talking to her, 

 requesting her to get off and let me count the eggs, but unless I put my hand 

 at the front of the keg she sat pat. 



Eggs. — Ten or a dozen eggs constitute the average set, but sets 

 of 18, 19, and 20 have been recorded. These large sets are doubtless 

 the product of two hens, as indicated by Mr. Willard's observations 

 above and by the fact that these sets usually contain two types of 

 eggs. The eggs are short ovate in shape and sometimes somewhat 

 pointed; they are smooth and slightly glossy. The ground colors 



