74 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



C. Willard, has sent me the following notes, based on his long 

 experience in Arizona : 



Gambel's quail is essentially a bird of the areas in southern Arizona where 

 the mesquite abounds. Unlike their neighbor, the scaled quail, they seem to 

 require the close proximity of a water supply. They are, therefore, found 

 principally along the few living streams and close to permanent water holes. 

 I found them swarming in the mesquite forest along tbe Santa Cruz River 

 south of Tucson and almost as plentiful along the Rillito between Tucson and 

 the mountains. In the valley of the San Pedro River they were also present 

 in large numbers. Between the valley of this last-named river and the various 

 ranges of mountains fringing it are long sloping mesas from 5 to 20 miles 

 wide where the "black topknot" is rarely seen except close to the infrequent 

 water holes. In the foothills of the Dragoon, Huachucas, Whetstones, Chirica- 

 huas, and other less well-known ranges this quail again appears in some 

 numbers but nothing like those in the lower valleys. 



Dr. Elliott Coues (1874) has given us the best account of this 

 quail, which I shall quote from quite freely. He says of its haunts : 



Gambel's Quail may be looked for in every kind of cover. Where they abound 

 it is almost impossible to miss them, and coveys may often he seen on exposed 

 sand-heaps, along open roads, or in the cleared patches around settlers' cabins. 

 If they have any aversion, it is for thick high pine-woods, without any under- 

 growth ; there they only casually stray. They are particularly fond of the 

 low, tangled brush along creeks, the dense groves of young willows that grow 

 in similar places, and the close-set chaparral of hillocks or mountain ravines. 

 I have often found them, also, among huge granitic boulders and masses of 

 lava, where there was little or no vegetation, except some straggling weeds; 

 and have flushed them from the dryer knolls in the midst of a reedy swamp. 

 Along the Gila and Colorado they live in such brakes as I described in speaking 

 of Abert's Finch ; and they frequent the groves of mezquite and mimosa, that 

 form so conspicuous a feature of the scenery in those places. These scrubby 

 trees form dense interlacing copses, only to be penetrated with the utmost 

 difficulty, but beneath their spreading scrawny branches are open intersecting 

 ways, along which the Quail roams at will, enjoying the slight shade. In the 

 most sterile regions they are apt to come together in numbers about the few 

 water-holes or moist spots that may be found and remain in the vicinity, so 

 that they become almost as good indication of the presence of water as the 

 Doves themselves. A noteworthy fact in their history, is their ability to bear, 

 without apparent inconvenience, great extremes of temperature. They are 

 seemingly at ease among the burning sands of the desert, where, for months, 

 the thermometer daily marks a hundred, and may reach a hundred and forty, 

 " in the best shade that could be procured," as Colonel McCall says ; and they 

 are equnlly at home the year round among the mountains, where snow lies 

 on the ground in winter. 



. In New Mexico, according to Mrs. Florence M. Bailey (1928), 

 it is found 



in the Lower Sonoran Zone in quail brush (Atriplex lentiformte) and creosote, 

 and in hot mesquite valleys or their brushy slopes, in screw bean and palo 

 verde thickets and among patches of prickly pear. It is not generally found 

 so far from water as the Scaled Quail, which eats more juicy insect food, 

 but at times both are seen in the same landscape. 



