BIRD NOTES AFIELD 



highlands, the valley-quail crows below it, and away up 

 among the wind-tossed pine trees a grouse is booming a love 

 call to its mate. 



To know these birds in the market, hung up with limp 

 bodies and ruffled plumage, is a very different matter from an 

 acquaintance with them in their native haunts, breathing the 

 same sweet air of the pine woods that they breathe, and feeling 

 the same thrill of spring life. The mountain-quail habitually 

 frequents higher levels than the valley-quail, although during 

 the winter its range overlaps that of the latter species. It is a 

 somewhat larger bird, with a long, slender, double plume, pro- 

 jecting backward from its head. Its back is brown, shaded 

 with olive, the throat and under parts being chestnut, inter- 

 rupted by a broad patch of bluish slaty color on the breast. 

 On each side of the throat is a line of black bordered with an- 

 other line of white, and upon the chestnut sides are black and 

 wavy white bars, thus marking the bird in a very striking man- 

 ner. Altogether it is a very showy species, with quick, active, 

 alert manners, generally rather shy in its habits, and less 

 abundant than its more familiar cousin of the valleys. 



It seems almost superfluous to describe the valley-quail, so 

 familiar to the average Californian it has become, but a word 

 of contrast may not be out of place in the present connection. 

 Its most distinctive feature is its crest, formed by a series of 

 beautiful, erect, black plumes, broadening at their terminals 

 and giving the bird's head much the effect of a plumed helmet. 

 When surprised or alarmed this showy appendage is thrown 

 forward over the beak, but habitually it stands erect, trembling 

 and quivering with the restless motions of the head as the bird 

 runs hither and thither over the ground, in search of food. The 



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