564 THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 
fond of grain, this is gleaned only from the surface of the ground, where they 
also find large quantities of weed-seed and capture amazing numbers of 
weevils, grasshoppers, and other injurious insects. The wheat-grower can well 
afford to encourage the propagation of this bird, and ought to derive a suffici- 
ent annual revenue from sportsmen to make it worth his while. 
No. 227. 
MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 
A. O. U. No. 292. Oreortyx pictus (Dougl.). 
Synonym.—MowunTAin PARTRIDGE. 
Description.—Adults: A lengthened crest (shorter in female) of two 
straight black feathers; foreparts in general slaty gray, changing on nape and 
sides of lower neck to dark olive brown of back, wings, and tail; throat chestnut, 
bordered sharply on sides by line of black continuous to eye; this in turn by 
broken line of white; forehead ashy ; base of bill bordered by white; belly central- 
ly chestnut; sides and flanks broadly banded, black, white, and chestnut or rufous; 
crissum black, streaked with chestnut; inner secondaries and tertials broadly 
edged with buffy or tawny, forming conspicuous lengthwise border in folded 
wing. /mmature: Above grayish brown speckled with white; throat and belly 
whitish; breast gray marked by triangular spots of white; tip of crest pale brown 
varied by white. Length of adult: 10.50-11.50 (266.7-292.1) ; wing 5.35 (135.9); 
tail 3.30 (83.8) ; tarsus 1.50 (38.1). 
Recognition Marks.—Robin size but more nearly small grouse in appear- 
ance; long straight crest distinctive; “larger” wing-sound in rising as compared 
with California Quail. 
Nesting.—Nest: under shelter of log or fallen branch, a slight depression in 
earth, lined scantily with dead leaves, grass, ete. Eggs: 10-12, creamy buff or dull 
pinkish buff, unmarked, or sometimes stained with pale brown. Av. size, 1.46x 
1.04 (37.1 x 26.4). 
General Range.—Pacific Coast district from Santa Barbara north to Wash- 
ington. 
Range in Washington.—Well established at lower levels and in borders of 
cultivated districts west of the Cascades. Possibly native in Washington, but 
numbers augmented by importation at an early date. 
ee ee ee and Suckley, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. Vol. XII. 1860, 
p. 225. Rh. Ra. B. E 
Specimens. sa) of W.) Prov. P. C. BN. E. 
THE Mountain Quail, as it is generally called, and its close relative, the 
Plumed Quail, are neither of them native to Washington, several crates of 
living birds having been imported from California between the years 1880 and 
1890. So kindly did they take to the conditions they found here, that, at the 
end of a long season of protection imposed by law, they fairly swarmed in 
