20 FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTING. 



sharp pit, precisely like the common note of the Cardinal 

 Grosbeak. The nest of this bird is made in the open fields 

 or at the foot of a bush, and is composed of loose grasses 

 arranged without much cai'e. The eggs are said to be 

 twelve or sixteen in number, and ai-e yellowish or grayish 

 white, spotted and dashed with dark brown or burnt umber. 



Mr. Titian R. Peale, in his Notes on the Wilkes Expedi- 

 tion, mentions observing this species in the mountainous 

 regions of Southern Oregon, near the 43d degree of north 

 latitude, which he regarded as their farthest northern 

 range. He frequently observed them collecting at night 

 to roost in trees. At such times their call-note Avas plain- 

 tive, and had a slight resemblance to the words cut-cut-cut 

 me-too. Specimens of this bird were taken alive, kept by 

 members of the expedition, and brought to the City of 

 Washington by a route equal to the circumference of the 

 Globe, where they produced one brood of young. 



Soda Lake, the "sink" of the Mohave River, the bed of 

 which is usually quite dry, except in spots, for many miles, 

 is said by Dr. Coues to be just where this species and the 

 L. gambeli find a neutral ground, the western bird following 

 the water-courses until arrested by the desert. 



Mr. Xantus found this Quail breeding in great abundance 

 at Cape St. Lucas. In one instance he found four eggs on 

 the bare sand, under a pile of drift-wood, without any trace 

 of a nest. In another, three eggs were found on the l)are 

 ground, under a fallen cactus. In a third case there were 

 nine eggs, also laid on the bare ground, but in the shade of 

 a jasmine-bush. They were frequentl}' found sheltered 

 under piles of drift-wood. 



The eggs of this Quail are subject to great variations 

 in marking, and also differ somewhat in size. They are 

 shar])ly ])ointed at one end and rounded at the other. One 

 egg, measuring 1.30 in length l)y 1.00 in breadth, has a 

 ground-color of creamy white, freckled with markings of 

 a uniform shading of an olivaceous-drab. Another, meas- 

 uring 1.22 by .91 inches, has the grouiul-color of the same, 

 but the markiuii's are laro-er and more confluent, and their 



