512 GAME BIBBS OF CALIFOENIA 



positae and blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium). Flowers, leaves, buds, and other 

 kinds of vegetable matter form the 24.08 per cent marked miscellaneous. The 

 birds probably eat more fruit than these stomach examinations indicate. 



Crops of Mountain Quail secured during field explorations of the 

 Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and examined by the present writers 

 showed contents as indicated in the following table (no. 14) : 



Table 14 — Crop Contents of Mountain Quail 



Locality Date Contents or Crop 



El Portal, Mariposa Co. Nov. 21. 1915 2 seeds of wild oats (Avena fatua) ; 30 seeds of 



yellow pine (Pinus ponderosa) ; more than 

 400 seeds and many leaves of clover (Tri- 

 folium ohtusiflorum) ; 2 ladybird beetles 

 (Hippodamia convergens) 



Near Coulterville, Mariposa Co. June 6. 1915 2 + seed pods (Leguminosae) ; flowers of man- 



zanita (Arrtostaphylos mariposa) ; pieces 

 of fern leaves ; green berries of ceanothus 

 (Ceanothus etineatus) : unidentified seeds; 

 2 nymphs and 2 adult hemiptera (Mem- 

 bracidae) ; many ants (Camponotus sp.); 

 several wingless grasshoppers (Locusti- 

 dae) ; 1 centipede; 2 beetles (Chrysomeli- 

 dae) ; 2 beetles (Carabidae) ; several small 

 pieces of bone 



Feliciana Mt., Mariposa Co. Oct. 30, 1915 2 capsules and 148 seeds of croton (Croton 



sp.) 



El Portal, Mariposa Co. Dec. 1, 1914 Parts of nianzanita berries {A rctostaphylos 



mariposa) 



Guerneville, Sonoma Co.* .July 4, 1913 More than 575 seeds of turkey mullein (Ere- 



mocarpus setigerus) 



* Pertains to the subspecies Oreortyx picta picta. 



It must be borne in mind that the above analyses are based upon 

 relatively few stomachs, and give but incomplete evidence as to the 

 food habits of the species taking its entire range into account as 

 well as the entire year. The following field observations supply 

 additional data. Belding says (1892&, pp. 233-234) that: 



The service berry is the staple article of their food in fall, but they eat 

 more or less of the different kinds of berries which the grouse eat. I sup- 

 pose they, as well as the grouse, eat berries of the wild coffee {Ehamnus 

 Calif ornica), but I have no data for a positive opinion. They also eat the 

 acorn of the dwarf oak and seeds of the snow bush {Ceanothus cordulatus), 

 and seeds of many small plants. I do not know that they eat any of the 

 foliage mentioned as the food of the grouse, but they probably eat leaves of 

 clover early in summer, just as valley quail do in winter. The juveniles eat 

 a great many ants. 



Some seasons, when there are no berries and very few seeds, they live 

 almost entirely upon the bulb of a species of grass, apparently Melica hidhosa, 

 which grows at the head of springs and rivulets. The birds get the bulb by 

 scratching. Such seasons they start for the foothills sooner than when food 

 is abundant. 



In the San IJernardino Mountains, the last of August, Grinnell 

 (1908, p. 56) found the Mountain Quail feeding on service berries 

 wherever these were obtainable. 



The large size and exquisite coloring of the Mountain Quail com- 

 bine to make it an attractive game bird. Its flesh is excellent, being 



