VALLEY QTJAIL 63 



arms between the cocks, individual preferences begin to hold sway. It is then 

 that the so-called " assembly call," ku kwak' up, ku kioak' up, ku kicak' u k- 

 k o, is heard at its best ; for this is also a mating call ; and if not always directed 

 toward a single listener, it is a notice to all and sundry that the owner is very 

 happy, and may be found at the old stand. Although belonging to a polygamous 

 family, the Valley Quail is very particular in his affections; and indeed, from 

 all that we may learn, is at all times a very perfect model of a husband and 

 father. Even in domestication, with evil examples all about and temptresses 

 in abundance, the male quail is declared to be as devoted to a single mate as in 

 the chaparral, where broad acres may separate him from a rival. 



Nesting. — The valley quail is not at all particular about the choice 

 of a nesting site and is not much of a nest builder. A slight hollow 

 in the ground lined with grass or leaves may be well hidden under 

 a bush, hedge, or brush pile, beside a log or rock, in some thick 

 clumps of grass or weeds in an orchard or vineyard, in a clump of 

 cactus or pricklypear, under the base of a haystack in an open field, 

 or even in a cranny in a rock. W. Leon Dawson (1923) shows a 

 photograph of a nest in the latter type of location. Often the nest 

 is near a house, in a garden, or close to a much-traveled path or road. 

 This quail often lays its eggs in other birds' nests. M. L. Wicks 

 (1897) tells an interesting story of a partnership nesting with a long- 

 tailed chat; the quail had laid two eggs in the chat's nest, in which 

 the chat laid four eggs ; both birds took turns at incubating. Harold 

 M. Holland (1917) twice found a quail occupying a road runner's 

 nest. John G. Tyler (1913) speaks of a curious habit this quail has 

 of dropping its eggs at random anywhere ; this happens early in the 

 season, and he thinks it is due to the fact that the vines under which 

 it wants to nest have not yet developed enough foliage for conceal- 

 ment. Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) mention a few more odd 

 nesting sites, as follows: 



H. R. Taylor records the finding of ten fresh California Quail's eggs in a 

 Spurred Towhee's nest in a cypress hedge about four feet from the ground, and 

 also two eggs of this quail in a Spurred Towhee's nest on the ground, both in 

 Alameda. Near Los Angeles, Wicks found two eggs of the Valley Quail in a 

 Long-tailed Chat's nest. Several cases of tree-nesting of the California Quail 

 came to the attention of W. E. Bryant. The sites which had been chosen were 

 the upright ends of broken or decayed limbs, or the intersections of two large 

 branches. The same observer found a nest in a vine-covered trellis over a 

 much-used doorway, from which the young later successfully reached the 

 ground. Howell found a nest with three fresh eggs four feet above the ground 

 on top of a bale of hay in the shade of an orange tree at Covina, Los Angeles 

 County. 



Mr. Dawson (1923) tells of a nest placed " on a horizontal stretch 

 of dense wistaria covering an arbor, at a height of 10 feet from the 

 ground " ; when the young were hatched the parent birds called 

 them, and they came tumbling down, stunned at first but not seriously 

 injured. He mentions another nest on the roof of a house. 



