PLUMED QUAIL. 45 



oftener in thickets of the rock rose or the tar-weed, and according to his obser- 

 vations they do not desert their nests for slight cause, like the Bob White or 

 the California Quail. 



H. W. Carriger writes to me: 



On June 20, 1914, I found four nests of the Mountain Quail. What struck 

 me as unusual was how close the birds remain on the nest; one was under 

 some brush that a camper had cut the previous year, the leaves were all off 

 and the bunch was a mere handful and, though I stood looking down at the 

 bird, she paid no attention to me and did not get off till I had hit the brush 

 pile several times with a stick. The one with 19 eggs was also a very close 

 sitting bird; I flushed a male and then began a search about, in a radius of 

 about 15 feet from where he flew up ; I used a stick and beat all the sur- 

 rounding bushes and vines (mountain misery), but could not flush the female, 

 which I figured must be in the vicinity; after covering all the near-by ground 

 1 sat down near a large tree and accidentally saw a bird move its eye and there, 

 about 6 feet away in a patch of " misery," was a sitting bird ; she allowed me 

 to practically touch her before flying. I am sure that I passed this tree and 

 beat this bush before, but not a movement from the bird. The third nest was 

 located without seeing the bird and was at the base of a small tree. The fourth 

 had but one egg and was also at the base of a very large tree. 



Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer (1918) mention two cases where 

 nests of this species have been found containing eggs of the Cali- 

 fornia, or valle} 7 , quail. 



Chester Barlow (1899) describes as follows some nests found in 

 Eldorado County, at an elevation of 3,500 feet in the pine belt: 



Three nests of the Plumed Quail were found by us, all built in the tar-weed 

 or "mountain misery" (ChamaebaUa foliolosa), and all near paths or roads. 

 The one shown in the illustration was built at the foot of a large cedar tree, 

 and was nicely concealed and shaded by the foliage of the weeds. The nesting 

 cavity was about six inches across and three inches deep, lined with feathers 

 from the parent bird. It held ten eggs, in which incubation was well advanced. 

 Several times the bird was flushed in order that we might observe the nest, 

 but she was persistent and always returned. Another nest containing 11 

 incubated eggs was found on the same day, placed amongst the tar-weed in the 

 shade of large cedars. This nesting cavity was about six inches in depth, and 

 composed of dry leaves from the tar-weed and lined with feathers. From the 

 nests observed it seems certain that the Plumed Quail makes a nest of its own, 

 for the one last mentioned was substantial enough to bring home. 



Charles K. Keyes (1905) found six nests of the plumed quail in 

 the heavily timbered portion of the Sierra Nevada at an altitude 

 of 3,000 feet. One nest was " protected under the outer edge of a 

 mass of deer brush {Ceanothus velutinus) r ' ; another was "neatly 

 tucked away along the northwest side of a small boulder and partly 

 concealed by dwarf manzanita"; still another "was in rather an 

 open situation under a Murray pine and five feet away from the 

 trunk " ; it was " composed entirely of pine needles " and was " par- 

 tially concealed by low sprigs of manzanita." Of the fifth nest he 

 says: 



