PLUMED PARTRIDGE. 
ae its relative the Mountain Partridge, which it 
closely resembles, this species only approaches the 
seacoast in the southern parts of its range, but is essen- 
tially a bird of the drier regions of the interior, and a 
dweller of the mountains; and the name of “ Mountain 
Partridge’ would be much more applicable to it than 
it is to the one living to the westward of its habitat. It 
is found on both sides of the Sierra Nevada in eastern 
Oregon, and southward to northern Lower California. 
It ascends high upon the mountains, having been met 
with at an altitude of 7000 feet in the Sierra Nevada, 
and Bendire found it on Mount Kearsage in Inyo 
County, California, at an elevation of 10,000 feet. The 
most easterly point of its range is the Argus Moun- 
tains in southeastern California, where Dr. Fisher met 
with it. In winter it descends toward the valleys and 
passes this inclement season in a milder climate, but 
on the return of spring travels upward again, often not 
stopping until the snow line is reached. It is shy like the 
Mountain Partridge, so called, and like it goes in small 
coveys, and escapes by running, if possible, rather than 
trusting to its wings. This is the inveterate habit of all 
the plumed and crested Partridges, lessening very much 
the sport of hunting them, very trying to the human, and 
perfectly exasperating and bewildering to the dog. In 
spring the male utters a loud clear call, something like 
Pheu-i-é, Pheu-i-é, while mounted upon some stump 
or rock, and the mating season commences about April. 
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