550 SCRATCPUNG BIRDS— GALLIX.E. 



Female similar, -n-itliout the wliite ami lilark uf the lu-ad ; (ho fratlnTs of the throat 

 brownisli-yclluvv, streaked with brown. The butr and orange-brown of the bellx- wanting. 

 The crest short. 



Length, 10.00 ; extent, 14.00 ; wing, 4.50 ; tail. 4.-20. \rh brown : bill blaek ; ieet olive- 

 brown. 



//(//;. Plains and lowlands of Caliliirnia and Oregon towards the coast, and as fiir as 

 the Colnmbia Ri\er. Mojave River. 



The California quail, iialley quail, or common crested qutiil, is so abun- 

 dant a .species in all the lower parts of the country, that its appearance is per- 

 fectly familiar to every one, and it has had numerous illustrations in hooks 

 of natural history, etc., during the last seventy years. It abounds from tlie 

 Colnndiia River to Lower California in the valleys, and on the lo^\•cr jjaits 

 of the mountain-slopes up to about three thousand feet in lat. 3'j°, above 

 which it is replaced Ijy the mountain quail. It is also numerous on 

 Catalina Island, but was probably carried there originally, as a flight of 

 eighteen miles at once would probably be too far for a bird with so short 

 wings. It is not .found on any of the other more southern islands. 



At most seasons these quails can be found in flocks, sometimes of several 

 hundreds, and they do not scatter in pairs even in the nesting season, e.v- 

 cept for a short period, the males soon collecting again in small flocks. It 

 has been stated that in the warm valleys of the interior they commence to 

 lay as early as March, but I have never found eggs near the coast before 

 April. At San Diego I found the first on the 22d of that month, about 

 thirty days later than Gambel's quail begins to lay at Fort !Mojave. At 

 Santa Barbara I found the first on ]\Iay 1st, and at Santa Cruz observed the 



