90 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. iS-No. 6 



the best place for us. We at once hitched 

 up and decamped, and in spite of the bliz- 

 zard which we had to face, we were as merry 

 a little party as ever came to the " Califor- 

 nia I'.end." \Vhat a ])aradise to the liunter 

 and naturalist was this region in those days. 



What a change has come over it now_ 

 This fall, in October, I visited it again. The 

 great forest of hickory and pecan is nearly 

 all cut away. 



Immense fields of corn \vere waving 

 where once the wild denizens of the woods 

 had full sway. Two railroads ran through 

 " California liend." 



Not much is left of its original wild splen- 

 dor. The lake is still there, teeming with 

 thousands of fish, and the water fowl still 

 come, but in greatly reduced numbers. 



li: S. Strode, T/ D. 



Lewiston, III. 



Nesting of Gambel's Quail in the 

 Colorado Desert. 



Gambel's Partridge iyCallipepla ganihcW) 

 is one of the very few game birds which in- 

 habit the desert exclusively, and for this 

 reason they are not likely to become exter- 

 minated for a long time, as is the case with 

 many others, for there are few sportsmen 

 however ardent, who care to take a hunting 

 trip over the scorching sands of the desert, 

 when game equally palatable is to be found 

 at their very doors. 



It was my good fortune to take a trip over 

 the Colorado Desert this spring, and for the 

 first time in my life I saw the beautiful Gam- 

 bel's Quail at home. 



Starting from Julian, San Diego Co., Cali- 

 fornia, we descended the east side of the 

 mountains, and after a day's travel found 

 oursehes on the edge of the desert. From 

 here we traxeled for three days over rocky 

 and sandy roads and trails, until we arri\ed 

 at Fish Springs, not far from the edge of the 

 great Salton Sea, which caused so much anx- 

 iety two years ago by threatening to, and in 

 fact it did, overflow its banks, and cover the 



tracks of the Southern Pacific R.R. and en- 

 danger the works of the salt company at 

 Salton. The spring is a circular hole about 

 thirty feet across and of unknown depth, the 

 usual story of a liottomless pit l)eing aiiplied 

 to it. It recei\es its name from the fact that 

 in it live numbers of tiny fish from one to 

 two inches long. The water is rather alkaline 

 and impregnated with sulphur. 



The next day we entered the Mesquites, 

 and here, for the first time, met the object of 

 our search, Clambel's Quail. 



We were first made conscious of the bird's 

 presence by hearing its familiar call. I say 

 familiar, for it is very similar to that of the 

 Valley Partridge, so common about home. 



I made off in the direction of the sound, 

 and soon saw a pair of the birds run into a 

 thick Mesquite bush. Any one who is fa- 

 miliar with a Mesquite thicket will know why 

 I did not follow. For the sake of those who 

 are unacquainted with the plant, I would say 

 that going through them is much like going 

 through a thicket of briers with thorns an 

 inch long, and thorns that will not bend or 

 break either. They come as near being like 

 a thicket of thorny locust trees as anything 

 else I can think of. Well, I decided to go 

 around that Mesciuite bush, and did so just 

 in time to see one of the birds dive into the 

 next. I fired at its retreating form, and was 

 gratified at hearing a heavy fluttering under 

 the brush. By crawling on hands and knees, 

 I succeeded in pulling it out, a fine male. 

 Soon afterward I killed a female, which, upon 

 skinning, was found to contain a well-devel- 

 oped egg. During the afternoon I succeeded 

 in taking two specimens of Phainopepla 

 {P/ia/nopcp/a 7ictc/is). 



That night we camped at .Aiiua Dulce 

 (Spanish words meaning " Sweet Water " ) . I 

 do not know why it is so called, for the water 

 is only a little less salty and sulphury than 

 the other watering places on the desert. 



As I was starting out, just at sundown, in 

 search of a suitable place to set my trajis, 

 for I was collecting both birds and mammals. 



