394 Qiiail and Grouse of the Pacific Coast 



GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE 

 THE QUAIL OF THE DESERT 



The Sierra Nevada cuts off the rainfall so that, 

 in a few miles after passing its crest, the eastern 

 slope becomes perfect desert, in many places the 

 most dangerous in the world. Though the valley- 

 quail in some portions of the western slope has 

 shown his ability to thrive without water, and 

 apparently without feed, he does not pass this 

 mountain crest to any extent, though there are 

 many places where he could prosper as well as 

 on the other slope. On the eastern slope his 

 place is taken by the brightest and most active 

 of all the game-birds of earth, Gambel's par- 

 tridge, a rover and lover of the desert. There 

 are places enough like the rich bottoms of the 

 Colorado River and the farms of Salt River Val- 

 ley to prove that this bird knows all about the 

 fatness of earth, and does not degenerate in the 

 fulness of its bounties. Yet without a sigh he 

 leaves the rich alfalfa fields, vineyards, and or- 

 chards of the irrigated sections to scramble among 

 the fiery rocks that bound the blazing plain, and 

 seems as happy under the mocking shade of a 

 bush that only intensifies the heat by stopping 

 the breeze as he is under the dark chapuli of 

 Sonora, that stands as solidly green as the finest 

 live-oak. So much is he in love with dry air. 



