56 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Bendire (1892) quotes William Lloyd as saying: 



The Blue Quail loves a sandy table land, where they spend considerable time 

 in taking sand baths. I have often watched them doing so, pecking and 

 chasing each other like a brood of young chickens. Good clear water is a 

 necessity to them. They are local, but travel at least 3 miles for water. 

 In the evenings they retire to the smaller ridges or hillocks and their calls 

 are heard on all sides as the scattered covey collects. Several times I have 

 seen packs numbering sixty to eighty, but coveys from twenty-five to thirty are 

 much oftener noticed. During the middle of the day they frequently alight in 

 trees, usually large oaks, but they roost on the ground at night. 



Voice. — Major Bendire (1892) says: 



According to Mr. Lloyd their call note sounds something like a lengthened 

 chip-ohurr, chip-churr; the same, only more rapidly repeated, is also given 

 when alarmed, and a guttural oom-oom-oom is uttered when worried or chased 

 by a Hawk. The young utter a plaintive peep-peep, very much like young 

 chickens. Like the rest of the partridge tribe they are able to run about as 

 soon as hatched. 



Mr. Simmons (1925) refers to their notes as: "A single low, long- 

 drawn whistle ; a nasal, musical, friendly pe-cos', pe-cos'." 

 Enemies. — Mrs. Bailey (1928) writes: 



Although protective coloration and attitudes partly serve their purposes, 

 protective cover is still vitally important, for as Mr. Ligon has found, " Prairie 

 Falcons, Cooper Hawks, Roadrunners, snakes, skunks, wildcats, and coyotes all 

 take their toll of these birds or their eggs" ; in the northern part of their range, 

 Magpies destroy both eggs and young; and over much of their range hail, 

 cold rains, and winter storms deplete their numbers. 



Mr. Willard says in his notes : 



The Gila monster, rattlesnake, and skunk are natural enemies which take 

 a large toll from the nests of the scaled quail. I once observed a female 

 quail fluttering excitedly over a clump of grass and making dashes down 

 at it. On investigating I found a rattlesnake and nine quail eggs in the 

 nest. I dispatched the snake and on opening it found three whole eggs inside. 

 A Gila monster, which I caught and caged, evidently disgorged two scaled 

 quail eggs, as there were two eggs in the box a short time later, and I am 

 sure no one had been near it but myself. In passing, it may be of interest 

 to say that this great lizard will devour a hen's egg by gradually working 

 it far enough into its mouth to be able to clamp down on it with its powerful 

 jaws, crushing it, and then sucking out the contents. They are large enough 

 to swallow easily a quail's egg whole. We occasionally found a mass of loose 

 feathers of this quail scattered on the ground and clinging to near-by bushes. 

 The presence of cat tracks told what was responsible for the tragedy the 

 feathers betrayed. On at least four occasions I have surprised a long-legged 

 Mexican lynx stalking the same game I was after, and was able to collect a 

 cat as well as a quail. 



Fall— Mrs. Bailey (1928) says further: 



The entire life of the Scaled Quail is spent in the environment to which 

 it is so well adapted, but in the fall it is sometimes found a few hundred 

 feet higher than in the nesting season. When the young are raised these 



