206 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



is a very handsome bird, and breeds in tlie 

 higher mountain ranges. 



An author says of the renowned California 

 quail that it sometimes builds its nest in gar- 

 dens not more than twenty feet from the door- 

 way, and also that he found some eggs of this 

 bird in a hen's nest in the barnyard. Another 

 writer says that he has found several of these 

 quails' nests in trees, on the end of a broken or 

 decayed limb, or at the intersection of two large 

 branches. A brood was hatched in a vine-cov- 

 ered trellis at the front door of a school build- 

 ing. A resident of California found a towhee's 

 nest which contained four of its own eggs and 

 two of the California quail's. This must be a 

 rather whimsical bird. 



A very handsome partridge is the scaled 

 or blue quail, which is found in northwestern 

 Mexico, western Texas, New Mexico, and Ari- 

 zona. It often chooses the most barren places 

 for residence, many miles from water, so that 

 it must be a kind of Arab among birds. It 

 places its nest in a slight depression under a 

 bush, and lines it with a few coarse grass fibers. 

 It is said that the shells of the eggs are very 

 thick. 



There are also the Arizona quail and the 

 " fool quail " or " fool hen " of the same State, 



