124 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 
usually taking an elevated position near the nest, where, with 
crest erect, and tail spread, he bids defiance to all intruders, 
uttering an oft-repeated ‘whew-whew-whew.’ When the brood- 
ing hen leaves the nest to feed, should he be absent from the 
post of duty, her cry of ‘tobacco, tobacco,’ very plainly given, 
brings him up at once. In fact their call-notes are very varied. - 
I frequently heard an old cock call out at night ‘ah-hooh, ah- 
hooh,’ the first note in a low key.” 
West.—Generally a slight hollow scratched in the ground 
and slightly lined. The situation varies greatly. The shelter 
afforded by a rock, log, or old stump, small bush, bunch ot 
weeds or grass, is usually selected, but occasionally a perfectly 
open situation is chosen, and even trees are sometimes re- 
sorted to, the fork formed by two large branches, or the up- 
right end ofa broken decayed limb being chosen as a site. 
Eggs-—Generally from twelve to sixteen in number, but some- 
times many more are found, probably the result of two hens 
laying in the same nest. Ground-colour creamy-white, some- 
times buff, spotted and dotted, or blotched all over with 
reddish-brown or olive-drab. Average measurements, 1°28 by 
E ich. 
Il. GAMBEL’S QUAIL. LOPHORTYX GAMBELI. 
Lophortyx gambeli, Nutt.; Gambel, P. Ac. Philad. 1843, p. 
260; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 403 (1893). 
Callipepla venusta, Gould, P. Z.S. 1846, p. 70. 
Callipepla gambeli, Gould, Monogr. Odontoph. pt. il. pl. 17 
(1850); Bendire, N. Am. B. p. 29, pl. 1. figs. 11-14 
[eggs] (1892). 
Adult Male.—Easily distinguished from the male of Z. cali- 
fornicus by having the back of the head chestnut; no waite 
spots on the back of the neck; the chest-feathers with dark 
shafts ; the middle of the belly d/ack ; xo black margins to the 
feathers of the breast and belly, and the sides deep chestnut, 
