564 THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 



fond of grain, tliis is gleaned only from the surface of the ground, where they 

 also find large quantities of weed-seed and capture amazing numbers of 

 weevils, grasshoppers, and other injurious insects. Tiie wheat-grower can well 

 afford to encourage the propagation nf this birtl, and ought to derive a suffici- 

 ent annual re\-enue from sportsmen to make it worth his while. 



No. 227. 



MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 



A. O. U. No. 292. Oreortyx pictiis (Doug!.). 



Synonym. — Mount.mx Partrukj:. 



Description. — Adults: A lengthened crest (shorter in female) of two 

 straight black feathers ; foreparts in general slaty gray, changing on nape and 

 sides of lower neck to dark olive brown of back, wings, and tail ; throat chestnut, 

 bordered sharply on sides by line of black continuous to eye ; this in turn by. 

 broken line of white; forehead ashy; base of bill bordered by white; belly central- 

 ly chestnut ; sides and flanks broadlv lianded. black, white, and chestnut or rufous; 

 crissum black, streaked with chestnut ; inner secondaries and tertials broadly 

 edged with buffy or tawny, forming conspicuous lengthwise border in folded 

 wing. I minaturc: Above grayish brown speckled with white: throat and belly 

 whitish ; breast gray marked by triangular spots of white: tip of crest pale brown 

 varied by white. Length of adult : 10. 50-1 1.50 ( 266.7-292.1 ) ; wing 5.35 ( 135.9) ; 

 tail 3.30 (83.81 ; tarsus 1.50 (38.1). 



Recognition Marks. — Robin size but nmre nearly small grouse in ajipear- 

 ance ; long straight crest distinctive; "larger" wing-sound in rising as compared 

 with California Ouail. 



Nesting. — Nest: under shelter of log or fallen branch, a slight depression in 

 earth, lined scantily with dead leaves, grass, etc. Eggs: 10-12, creamy buff or dull 

 pinkish buff, unmarked, or sometimes stained with pale brown. Av. size, 1.46 .\ 

 1.04 (37.1 X 26.4). 



General Range. — F'acific Coast district from Santa Barbara north to Wash- 

 ington. 



Range in Washington. — Well established at lower levels and in borders of 

 cultivated districts west of the Cascades. Possibly native in Washington, but 

 numbers augmented by importation at an early date. 



Authorities. — Cooper and Siickley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. \'o\. Xll. t86o, 

 p. 225. Rh. Ra. 11. E. 



Specimens.— (IT. of W.) Prov. P. C. BN. E. 



THE Mountain Quail, as it is generallx- called, and its close relative, the 

 Plumed Quail, are neither of them native to Washington, several crates of 

 living birds ha\ing lieen imported from California between the years l8<So and 

 1890. So kindly did they take to the conditions they found here, that, at the 

 end of a long season of protection imposed by law, the_\' fairly swarmed in 



