8 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



cock assisting in the care of the young but not in 

 incubation. 



Although the Scaled Quail is a desert species, 

 it comes into more or less direct relation with 

 agriculture, sometimes feeding u]ion cultivated 

 land and about farm buildings. Half of its food 



consists of the seeds of weeds. It is highly in- 

 sectivorous, fully one-fourth of its food con- 

 sisting of insects. The dryness of its food makes 

 this Quail dependent on water, and the sight of 

 a number of them is a sure indication of a nearby 

 supply of water. 



CALIFORNIA QUAIL 



Lophortyx californica californica (Shazv) 



A. O. U. Number 294 



Other Names. — Valley Quail ; Top-knot Quail ; 

 California Partridge; Helmet Quail. 



General Description. — Length, ii inches. Males are 

 asliy-brown above, and slaty-blue and tawny below with 

 chestnut patch ; females are ashy-brown above and be- 

 low. Both se.xes have the head adorned with a glossy 

 black crest, narrow at the base and gradually widening 

 into gracefully recurving plumes. 



Color. — Adult Male: General color of plumage of 

 upper parts, deep ashy brozvn with a strong olive tinge, 

 the feathers of nape and neck black-edged and centered 

 with fine white dots between; front half of crown, 

 brownish-yellow; rear portion and back of head, light 

 brown ; forehead, whitish with fine black lines ; a white 

 stripe from above eye along upper side of head to 

 nape, bordered above by a narrow black stripe which 

 e-xtends across to front of crown; a black stripe from 

 back of eye running toward neck and circling across 

 upper breast ; chin and throat, black bounded behind 

 by another white stripe circling backward and around 

 front of breast cutting off the black of throat; fore- 

 breast, deep slaty-blue ; rest of under parts, tawny with 

 a lariir area of rich ehestiiut on ahitoiiieii. wliere marked 



with circular edgings of jet black except in center of 

 chestnut patch; inner secondaries and shoulder-feathers, 

 broadly marked with brownish-orange ; sides and flanks, 

 like color of back with broad sharp longitudinal white 

 stripes; under tail-coverts, tawny, each feather with a 

 wedge-shaped spot of blackish-brown ; bill, dusky 

 horn ; legs, brownish-horn ; iris, deep brown. Adult 

 Fe.male: Head and neck all around and breast, plain 

 olive-gray without any markings on head ; lower parts, 

 without the chestnut and warm colors of the male but 

 scaled like his, sides with white streaks ; crest very 

 much shorter. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A slight hollow lined with 

 grass, under brush heaps, beside a rock, bushes, old 

 fences, or other shelters, sometimes in gardens or even 

 in "stolen" chicken nests. Eggs: 12 to 16, creamy, 

 beautifully marked with spots and blotches of old gold, 

 sometimes pale brown and chestnut over entire sur- 

 face. 



Distribution. — Humid districts of Pacific coast 

 region from southwestern Oregon south to Monterey 

 County, California; introduced into Vancouver Island, 

 Washington, and Colorado. 



The California Quail — elegant, graceful, and 

 lovely — is one of the liveliest of all American 

 game birds. During daylight it is in motion most 

 of the time, and, even when settled quietly on 

 stump or fence, its head or eyes are constantly 

 moving that it may catch the first glimpse of 

 any of its many enemies. Although it often 

 seems tame and confiding during the close season 

 or where not hunted, it leads the hunter a merry 

 chase after the shooting season begins, and its 

 habits of sprinting and long-distance running are 

 likely to baffle any but well-trained dogs. 



It is knowti commonly in California as the 

 Valley Quail, to distinguish it from the Mountain 

 Quail of the higher lands ; but ornithologists now 

 recognize two subspecies, the California Quail 

 and the Valley Quail ( Lophortyx californica 

 I'aUicola) both entirely distinct from the Moun- 

 tain Quail. The first is a bird of the humid 

 coast region and has been introduced into Wash- 



ington. The second, which differs only slightly 

 from the first, is chiefly a bird of the drier or 

 sub-arid regions of the interior, from the Kla- 

 math Lake region in Oregon south to Cape San 

 Lucas and east to Nevada, but it is not an inhabi- 

 tant of the more eastern desert region where its 

 place is taken by Gambel's Quail. The species 

 represented by the two subspecies lives in the 

 valleys and on the foothills in California from 

 near sea level to perhaps a mile above it. 



Our little Quail is not only beautiful and lively, 

 it is loquacious also. No bird perhaps has a 

 more varied and pleasing language for if there 

 is such a thing as bird-talk this bird surely is 

 an accomplished conversationalist. The hunter 

 soon learns to know the meaning of some of its 

 notes. There is a common scolding call, resem- 

 bling a little the crowing of a cock, something 

 like ka-ka-kao. Some assert that the bird is 

 merely swearing in Spanish. Caralw! Its calls 



