72 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Kef erring to its distribution and haunts, he says in a later publi- 

 cation (1928) : 



Abundant resident of the northwestern portion of the territory, roughly 

 between latitudes 30° and 32°— practically as comprised in the San Quintin 

 subfaunal district. While the metropolis of the subspecies lies on the Pacific 

 slope of the peninsula, colonies or pairs occur also to the eastward, in canyons 

 at the east base of the Sierra San Pedro Martir, and even at San Felipe, on 

 the Gulf coast (Mas. Vert. Zool.). As regards life-zone, inhabits the Lower 

 Sonoran, Upper Sonoran, and Transition, without any seeming choice. Asso- 

 ciationally, adheres to an open or interrupted type of chaparral, especially as 

 adjacent to springs or water-courses. Altitudinally, extends from sea level up 

 to as high as 8,800 feet, on the Sierra San Pedro Martir. 



Eggs. — The eggs are probably indistinguishable from those of 

 other races of California quail. Griffing Bancroft (1930) says that 

 the measurements of 150 eggs average 30.6 by 23.3 millimeters. 



LOPHORTYX CALIFORNICA ACHRUSTERA Peters 



SAN LUCAS QUAIL 



HABITS 



James L. Peters (1923) is responsible for the name L. c. achrustera, 

 which he has applied to the quail of this species inhabiting southern 

 Lower California. Based on the examination of a series of 27 males 

 and 15 females, he says that it is " similar to Lophortyx calif omica 

 vatticola (Ridgway), but slightly paler above; band across breast 

 grayer; the buffy patch on the lower breast of the male much paler; 

 dark feather-edgings on the lower breast, middle and sides of abdo- 

 men, narrower; flanks paler." 



William Brewster (1902), with much of the same material, noticed 

 that the Lower California specimens were "slightly paler" than 

 California birds and their bills averaged " a little heavier," but he 

 did not consider these differences well marked or constant. But 

 Peters (1923) says that "while the bill character is of no diagnostic 

 value, the color characters are constant and serve to distinguish the 

 valley quail of southern Lower California almost at a glance." 



Griffing Bancroft (1930) says of their haunts: "They insist on 

 riparian associations, but they follow these without regard either to 

 altitude or to the character of the country adjoining the stream 

 beds. They definitely do not require the presence of water." 



Nesting.— -Of the nesting of the San Lucas quail, Bancroft (1930) 

 says: 



Our experience with the breeding of these quail was limited to San Ignacio. 

 That was because the nests were too well hidden to be found, except acci- 

 dentally, and those we saw were shown to us by the natives. Three of 

 the sites were in damp ground in rank grass; one of them, to our surprise, 

 on a tiny islet in a swamp. Two nests were in vineyards, two in natural 



