264 Grinnell, Catalina Island Quail. [july 



duced from the mainland." No mention is made of measurements. 

 I do not know where the type-locality of vallicola is. Nothing 

 more exact has been published than "interior valleys of California," 

 as far as I know. I am using skins from the San Gabriel Valley, 

 Los Angeles County, as typical of vallicola. 



In 'The Auk' (Vol. XV, July 1898, p. 234) I made the statement 

 that "The 'Quail' is not native on the [Catalina] island, but was 

 originally introduced from the mainland." This assertion I now 

 wish to retract. It may be that quail from the mainland have been 

 liberated on the island, as I have been repeatedly informed. But 

 when I followed up these rumors, I never obtained any definite 

 information to confirm them. Moreover, as stated beyond, I now 

 have good reason to believe that quail were on the island before 

 the advent of white men. It seems to be "natural" for the usual 

 observer to conclude that quail could not have been native on the 

 island. For instance, Cooper (Orn. Cal., 1870, p. 550) says: "It 

 is also numerous on Catalina Island, but was probably carried 

 there originally, as a flight of eighteen miles at once would probably 

 be too far for a bird with so short wings." But there are many 

 animals on the island which are undoubtedly native, being of such 

 habits and character that only by natural means can their presence 

 be accounted for. Geologists tell us that evidence points towards 

 a time when the Santa Barbara Islands were a part of the mainland. 

 This would easily explain the origin of their fauna and flora, the 

 components of which are in so many instances slightly differentiated 

 from their mainland representatives. In view of the differences 

 characterizing the Catalina Island Quail it seems to me most proba- 

 ble that they belonged to the original fauna. 



On August 16, 1905, I interviewed an old-timer by the name of 

 James C. Johnston, who now lives on his ranch at Cactus Flat, 

 in the San Bernardino Mountains. "Captain" Johnston went to 

 Catalina April 15, 1859, and lived there 21 years. I saw the re- 

 mains of his old home at Johnston's (Johnsons, on the maps) 

 Harbor on August 31, 1903. Captain Johnston affirmed to me 

 that quail were already on the island when he went there in 1859, 

 and that he and the other sheep-men had always considered them 

 to be native. He never knew of any having been brought over 

 from the mainland. I believed him implicitly, as he told me many 



