92 ZOOLOGY. 



?? COCCYZUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. 

 The Black-billed Cuckoo. 



While encamped at Fort Reading, California, in July, 1855, I frequently saw and heard the 

 " rain crow," in the trees bordering Cow creek. I supposed it to be this species, and made an 

 entry to that effect in my note book ; but I had then nothing to do with the collections in natural 

 history, and did not secure a specimen. 



COLUMBA FA8CIATA. 

 The Band-tailed Pigeon. 



This beautiful pigeon, of the size and much the habits of the domestic pigeon, I observed at 

 several points on our route. At McCumber's, N. E. of Fort Reading, the first was seen and 

 killed by Dr. Sterling. There they are not rare, and, during the season of acorns, subsist on 

 those of the scrub oak, which abounds in that vicinity. On the Columbia they were in pairs, 

 and near the Dalles might readily be mistaken for domestic " doves." 



ECTOPISTES CAROLINENSIS. 



The Turtle Dove. 

 The turtle dove is very abundant in all parts of California and Oregon which we visited. 



CALLIPEPLA CALIFORNICA. 



The California Quail. 



This beautiful bird is now so widely and so well known that little can be said of it which will 

 be new to naturalists. In California it is called the " valley quail," to distinguish it from C. 

 picta, which, inhabiting the hills and highlands, has received the name of " mountain quail." 



The place filled in the fauna of the west by the California quail corresponds with that of the 

 quail or partridge of the eastern States, (Ortyx virginiana.) It inhabits the prairies and the 

 grain fields of the cultivated districts, and frequents the thickets which border the streams, 

 usually in covies of from a dozen to an hundred individuals, except during the breeding season, 

 when it is found only in pairs. Like the eastern quail, the cock bird is very fond of sitting on 

 some stump or log projecting above the grass and weeds which conceal his mate and nest or 

 brood, and, especially in the early morning, uttering his peculiar cry, (whistle it can hardly be 

 called,) which represents in a Californian scene the " bob-white," that, so clear and full, yet soft, 

 so suggestive of rural pleasures, form one of the most delightful accompaniments of the pleasant 

 harvest time in the eastern States. 



The note of the Californian quail is rather harsh and disagreeable than otherwise, and some- 

 what resembles that of some of the woodpeckers. It may be represented by the syllables kuck- 

 kuck-kuck-ka — kiick-kuck-kuck-ka — the first three notes being rapidly repeated, the last pro- 

 longed with a falling inflection. 



As a game bird the Californian quail is inferior to the eastern one, though, perhaps, of equal 

 excellence for the table. It does not lie as well to the dog, and does not afford as good sport. 

 It also takes a tree more readily than our quail. It is found in all the valleys of California and 

 Oregon, both those of the interior and those which open on the coast. It is not found in the 



