544 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



Valley Quail. Its habitat in the first place is, to many people, for- 

 bidding, and its habit of seeking shelter in impenetrable thickets 

 makes it one of the most difficult birds to put up. When once on the 

 wing the flight is exceedingly rapid and vigorous, but as it is nearly 

 always direct, a quick hand can ensure a successful wing shot. 



The Desert Quail has always been numerous in favorable parts 

 of the desert region of southeastern California. • The increase of areas 

 under cultivation in the Coachella and Imperial valleys has resulted 

 in additional supplies of water and food, and in such localities this 

 quail appears to be increasing. In fact, there is some complaint from 

 ranchers that the bird has become so numerous as to do considerable 

 damage locally to newly sprouting grain. Until quite recently the 

 Desert Quail has been hunted but little ; but with the decrease of the 

 A'^alley Quail in the coast districts of southern California, and the 

 betterment of roads leading out over the desert, sportsmen are direct- 

 ing their attention more and more to the desert species. There is no 

 reason why the Desert Quail should not thrive in large numbers in 

 all suitable places on the southeastern deserts, and, because of its 

 prolific reproductivity and evident responsiveness to new conditions 

 imposed by cultivation of the land, why it may not stand a large 

 annual levy from the hunter. 



Sierra Grouse 



Dendragapus ohscurus sierrae Chapman 



Other names — Blue Grouse; Dusky Grouse; Pine Grouse; Sooty Grouse, part; 

 Dendragapus obscurus ; Dendragapus ohscurus fuUginosus, part; Dendragapus 

 fuliginosus ; Tetrao ohscurus; Canace ohscura. 



Description — Adult male: Head and neck chiefly dark slaty brown; area 

 between bill and eye, and ehin and throat, flecked with white; naked skin above 

 and below eye light orange ; iris hazel broAvn ; bill dusky ; back, rump, upper tail 

 coverts, and outer surface of closed wing, chiefly brownish black, more or less 

 finely patterned (vermiculated) with pale bluish gray or pale tawny, these ver- 

 miculations least conspicuous on middle of back, and most prominent on tertials 

 and outer webs of inner secondaries; tail chiefly black, brownish at liase, vn\\\ or 

 without fine light gray vermiculations, and tipped broadly with smoke gray ; 

 inner margins of flight feathers dark brown, outer margins paler, marked with 

 buffy or dull white ; lining and under surface of wing light slaty brown ; axillars 

 Avhite ; fore neck deep brownish black ; breast slaty brown changing to bluish gi'ay 

 on belly, where also mixed with white ; feathers of sides and flanks slaty brown 

 vermiculated with bluish gray, and with white shaft streaks; under tail coverts 

 dark slate, broadly tipped with white; feathers on tarsus, grayish brown; feet 

 light gray or olive di"ab, barred with brownish; nails dusky. Adult female: Top 

 of head, sides of neck, and hind neck, bro■^^^lish black, barred with pale clay 

 color ; side of head, chin and throat, dull white, mottled with brownish black ; 

 eyelids nearly as in male ; back, rump, upper tail coverts, middle tail feathers, 

 and outer surface of closed wing, blackish brown, barred or finely patterned 



