THE MASKED BOB VVHITR. H 



Sonoita Creek, about GO miles north of the Sonora hue. From the Souoita 

 Valley they range in a westerl}^ direction fully 100 miles, and through a strip 

 of country not less than 30 miles in width within Arizona Territoiy. Veiy 

 probal)ly they may go beyond this, both to the east and west. The habits of 

 the Masked Bob White, so far as we know them, appear to resemble very 

 closely those of the common Quail, only slightly moditied by the conditions 

 of .their envu'onment. They utter the characteristic call of 'Bob White' with 

 bold, full notes, and pei'ch on rocks or bushes while calling. They do iu)t 

 appear to be a mountain bird, but live on the mesas (table lands) in the 

 valleys, and possibly in the foothills. 



"The Masked Bob White was, thi-ee years since, abundant in the neigh- 

 borhood of Bolle's Well, a stage station on the Quijotoa road, near the northern 

 end of the Barboquivari Range, 29 miles southwest of Tucson and about 40 

 miles north of the Mexican boundary line. As the station was then com- 

 paratively new the grass thereabouts was high and these Quail could l)e had for 

 the taking; but now that the stock has eaten away the grass the birds have 

 not for a year or more been seen about the place. On the road from Bolle's 

 Well west to the Coyote Range (about 2a miles) these Quail were frequently 

 to be met Avith, but the teamsters and travelers have killed or frightened them 

 off. One of the former assured me that he had killed as many as five at one 

 shot. Ten miles south of Bolle's, in the Altar Valley, we came across a small 

 covey, perhaps a dozen in all. The bright deep chestnut breast plumage of 

 the males looked red in the sun and gave the birds a most magnificent appear- 

 ance. We secured but one, a male, the rest secreting themselves in the tall 

 sacaton grass, which at this point was between 4 and 5 feet high, and as we 

 had no dog we did not follow them. Our next place to find them was on the 

 mesa southeast of the peak, where we camped to hunt for them, but they were 

 scai'ce here, and we managed to secure but few. 



"In addition to their 'Bob White' they have a second call of 'Hoo-we,' 

 articulated and as clean cut as their ' Bob White.' This call of ' Hoo-we ' 

 they use when scattered, and more especially when separated toward night- 

 fall. At this hour £ noted, that, although they occasionally call ' Bob White,' 

 they never repeated the first syllable, as in the daytime they now and then 

 attempted to do. In body they are plumpness itself; in this respect, considering 

 size, they overmatch the Arizona Quail (C'alUpepla ganihcli) with which I 

 compared them. In actual size of body, however, the latter is the larger. Of 

 tln-ee stomachs of this species examined, one contained a species of mustard 

 seed, a few chaparral berries, and some six or eight beetles and other insects, 

 ranging in length from a half inch down to the size of a jwn head. The second 

 was similarly pro\'ided, but contained, in lieu of mustard seed, a grasshopper 

 fully an inch in length. These two were taken on the mesa. The third, from 

 a bird taken in the valley, contained about twenty medium-sized red ants, sev- 

 eral crescent-shaped seeds, and a large number of small, fleshy, green leaves.'" 



' Extracted from "Arizona Quail Notes," Forest and Stream, December :51, 18-ir>. The name of " C. 

 ridgwayi" is substituted by me for C. graysoni, where used in above article. 



