516 



GAME BIBDS OF CALIFORNIA 



east of the southern coast ranges, as in Antelope Valley, Los Angeles County, 

 along the Mohave Eiver at least to Vietorville, San Bernardino County, 

 and at Palm Springs, Eiverside County. Has been planted in places where 

 it did not exist formerly, as on San Clemente Island, and thriven to 

 a greater or less degree. The Valley Quail reaches the seacoast from San 

 Luis Obispo County southward; north of that county its range meets that of 

 the closely similar California Quail back from the seacoast not more than 

 forty miles, except in the San Francisco Bay region where the line of meeting 

 bends east around Mt. Diablo. The ranges of the Valley and Desert quails 

 overlap in San Gorgonio Pass, Eiverside County, and doubtless also in other 

 places along the western edge of the desert. 



The Valley Quail is usually conceded to be 

 California's finest game bird, and as its range 

 extends but slightly beyond the limits of this 

 state we may properly claim it as our own. It 

 bears but slight resemblance to either the 

 well-known Bobwhite Quail of the eastern 

 United States or to any of the quails and part- 

 ridges of other countries. Be- 

 cause of its great popularity as 

 a game bird it has been referred 

 to under a variety of names, as 

 listed at the head of this chapter ; 

 but to the great majority of the 

 residents of California this and 

 the closely similar California and 

 Catalina Island quails are 

 known simply as "quail." The 

 habits of these three races seem 

 to be identical, so that we have 

 deemed it best to combine the 

 general accounts of all three here 

 under one heading. 

 Under original conditions the Valley Quail ranges north only a 

 short distance into Oregon, and east scarcely beyond the Nevada line ; 

 but to the southward it occurs regularly to the southern end of Lower 

 California. In the state of California it is distributed throughout 

 the lower valleys and foothills from the Oregon boundary (east of 

 the Siskiyou Mountains) to the Mexican line (west of the Colorado 

 Desert). Along the narrow northwestern coast strip (fog belt), from 

 southern Monterey County northward, its place is taken by the closely 

 allied form, the California Quail, but south of San Luis Obispo 

 County the range of the A^alley Quail reaches quite to the seacoast. 

 East of the southern California coast ranges it occurs but a little 

 way out onto the desert ; beyond, its place is taken on suitable ground 



Fig. 82. Head of male Valley Quail 

 showing short, club-shaped plume. Nat- 

 ural size. 



