VALLEY QV AIL 531 



Fruit evidently does not form any important part of the food of 

 tile (|uail, as it was fonnd in only about one-sixth of the stomachs and 

 then only in very small quantities. Damage is sometimes done to 

 grapes, but this is not shown clearly by examination of stomach con- 

 tents. Beal (1910, p. 9) mentions two cases where 1,000 and 5,000 

 quail, respectively, had been seen feeding upon grapes in vineyards. 

 Under such circumstances severe loss was undoubtedly sustained; 

 but these are exceptional instances. Florence A. Merriam (1896, p. 

 116) states that on the ranch of IMajor ^Merriam at Twin Oaks, San 

 Diego County, quail were in 1889 so abundant as to be a severe pest. 

 For several years previously great flocks of them came down the 

 canons to the vineyard, "where they destroyed annually from twenty 

 to thirty tons of fruit." A report comes from the Fresno district to 

 the effect that grape growers are occasionally troubled by the birds 

 scattering the drying raisins from the trays. 



To elicit further information on this subject the present writers 

 addressed letters to several grape growers in California who by reason 

 of their large holdings would be best able to give evidence on this 

 point. The four vinej-ardists replying agreed in charging very little 

 if any damage against the quail. The service of the birds in destroy- 

 ing insect life was recognized by all of them. One man reported 

 that he had found quail aggravating, sometimes, when they picked 

 out certain varieties of grapes which do not bear heavily and which 

 had been left on the vines for more sugar, "for they are great sticklers 

 for a high saccharine content." They eat only very ripe grapes and 

 mostly those which are near the ground, and the damage done amounts 

 to only "a fraction of one per cent" (R. Jordan, Jr., San Francisco). 

 F. T. Bioletti, Professor of Viticulture at the University of California, 

 summarizes his impressions of the Valley Quail as follows (in MS) : 

 Under certain conditions the birds may be very destructive. One 

 vineyard of fifteen acres in a little mountain valley contained three 

 acres of an early ripening white grape. From fifty to seventy-five 

 per cent of these are taken by the quail every year. The later grapes, 

 which are larger and have tougher skins, are left practically un- 

 touched. Damage has also been noted in the case of table grapes 

 in which a few pecked berries on each bunch diminished the value 

 of the whole through the increased cost of trimming and packing. 

 Otherwise, "I am inclined to believe that the quail, as a rule, do very 

 little damage." 



It is evidently not the large vineyard that suffers the greatest 

 proportional damage. Rather is it the vineyard of moderate or small 

 size, especially where adjacent to wild lands upon which quail are 

 numerous. Under such circumstances quail have been known to 

 destroy almost the entire crop. But on the whole, the birds cannot 



