VALLEY QUAIL 521 



a Spurred Towlieo's nest on the ground, both in Alameda. Near Los 

 Angeles, Wicks (1897, p. 404) found two eggs of the Valley Quail in 

 a Long-tailed Chat's nest. Several eases of tree-nesting of the Cali- 

 fornia Quail came to the attention of W. E. Bryant (1887, p. 451). 

 The sites which had been chosen were the upright ends of broken or 

 decayed limbs, or the intersections of two large branches. The same 

 observer found a nest in a vine-covered trellis over a much-used door- 

 way, from which the young later successfully reached the ground. 

 Howell (1915, p. 206) found a nest with three fresh eggs four feet 

 above the ground on top of a bale of hay in the shade of an orange 

 tree at Covina, Los Angeles County. 



Several nests found along the bank of the San Joaquin River near 

 Lathrop, San Joaquin County, were hidden under weeds on the levee, 

 the depression in the ground being lined with leaves of the same 

 plants ; another nest found under a log was lined with decayed wood 

 (H. C. Bryant, MS). Grinnell and Swarth (1913, p. 230) found 

 Valley Quail nesting commonly in the shelter of the sage-bushes cover- 

 ing the floor of Hemet Valley, Riverside County. 



Wliile nests of the Valley Quail have been found as early as the 

 middle of ]\Iarch and as late as the middle of September, the great 

 majority of these birds restrict their nesting to a much shorter period. 

 To judge from the accompanying record of more than one hundred 

 and fifty nests, most of the nesting occurs from the latter part of 

 April to the middle of June (see tables 15 and 16, and fig. 84). Nests 

 found during July and early August are likely to represent second 

 layings (that is, instances where the first set was disturbed or 

 destroyed), and not necessarily efforts to rear a second brood. Ben- 

 dire (1892, p. 28) records a nest in Butte County as early as March 15, 

 and young about two daj's old were seen there on April 15. At 

 Hay ward, Alameda County, Emerson (MS) gives extreme nesting 

 dates as April 21, 1883, and July 14, 1905, but Cooper (1880, p. 251) 

 records nesting at the same locality on April 10, 1875. At Selma, 

 Fresno County, Tyler (MS) flushed a female from a nest containing 

 seven apparently fresh eggs on September 15, 1915. In Los Angeles 

 County the extreme dates are: Claremont, April 4, 1901, thirteen 

 fresh eggs (Willett, 1912a., p. 43), and Oak Knoll, near Pasadena, 

 September 6, 1907. fifteen eggs part of which hatched on September 10 

 (Grinnell, MS). At Poway, San Diego County, the last date for 

 fresh eggs in 1884 was August 14 (Belding, 1890, p. 14). Sharp 

 (table 16) has found eggs at Escondido, San Diego County, as late as 

 October 29 (1908), but it is doubtful whether eggs laid so late would 

 have been set upon until hatched. 



Our purpose in preparing the tables of nesting data given here- 

 with has been to provide a statistical basis upon which definite state- 



