48 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Adults have a very limited prenuptial molt in spring, confined to 

 the head and neck, and a complete postnuptial molt late in summer. 

 This species has been known to hybridize with the valley quail, 

 where their ranges meet in the foothills. 



Food. — Concerning the food of the plumed quail, Dr. Sylvester D. 

 Judd (1905) says: 



Their feeding hours are early in the morning and just before sundown in 

 the evening, when they go to roost in the thick tops of the scrub live oaks. 

 Their feeding habits are similar to those of the domestic hen. They are 

 vigorous scratchers, and will jump a foot or more from the ground to nip off 

 leaves. This bird is especially fond of the leaves of clover and other legumi- 

 nous plants. It feeds also on flowers, being known to select tbose of Compositae 

 and blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium). Flowers, leaves, buds, and other kinds of 

 vegetable matter form the 24.08 per cent marked miscellaneous. The birds 

 probably eat more fruit than these stomach examinations indicate. Lyman 

 Belding says that this quail feeds on service berries, and that during certain 

 seasons it lives almost entirely on grass bulbs (Melica bullosa), which it gets 

 by scratching, for which its large, powerful feet are well adapted. The fruit 

 in its bill of fare includes gooseberries, service berries (Amelanchier alnifolia), 

 and grapes (Vitis calif ornica) . The bird is probably fond also of manzanita 

 berries, for it is often seen among these shrubs. The food of the mountain 

 quail of the arid regions has been studied in the laboratory of the Biological 

 Survey. The stomachs examined, 23 in number, were collected in California. 

 Five were collected in January, 2 in May, 6 in June, 3 in July, 3 in August, 

 and 6 in November. The food consisted of animal matter, 3 per cent, and 

 vegetable matter, 97 per cent. The animal food was made up of grasshoppers, 

 0.05 per cent; beetles, 0.23 per cent; miscellaneous insects, including ants and 

 lepidopterous pupae, 1.90 per cent; and centipedes and harvest spiders 

 (Phalangidae), 0.82 per cent. The vegetable food consisted of grain, 18.20 per 

 cent ; seeds, practically all of weeds or other worthless plants, 46.61 per cent ; 

 fruit, 8.11 per cent; and miscellaneous vegetable matter, 24.08 per cent. The 

 grain included wheat, corn, barley, and oats. The legume seeds include seeds 

 of alfalfa, cassia, bush clover, vetch, and lupine. The miscellaneous seeds come 

 from wild carrot {Daucus carota), tar-weed (Madia saliva), Collomia sp., 

 Anmnckia sp., labiate plants, dwarf oak, snowbush {Ceanothus cordulatus) , 

 and thistle. 



Behavior. — H. W. Henshaw (1874) writes: 



It seems nowhere to be an abundant species. * * * The bevies are very 

 small, and I do not remember to have ever seen more than fifteen together, of- 

 tener less. It is a wild, timid bird, haunting the thick chaparral-thickets, and 

 rarely coming into the opening. When a band is surprised they are not easily 

 forced on the wing, but will endeavor to find safety by running and taking refuge 

 in the thickness and impenetrability of their favorite thickets. If forced, how- 

 ever, tbey rise vigorously and fly swiftly and well, and sometimes to a con- 

 siderable distance, and then make good their escape by running. During the 

 heat of midday, they will be found reposing under the thick shade of the 

 chaparral, and there they remain till the cooler hours invite them to continue 

 their quest for food. 



