GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE. 



AMBEL'S PARTRIDGE, of 

 which comparatively little 

 is known, is a characteristic 

 game bird of Arizona and 

 New Mexico, of rare beauty, and with 

 habits similar to others of the species 

 of which there about two hundred. 

 Mr. W. E. D. Scott found the species 

 distributed throughout the entire Cat- 

 alina region in Arizona below an alti- 

 tude of 5,000 feet. The bird is also 

 known as the Arizona Quail. 



The nest is made in a depression in 

 the ground sometimes without any 

 lining. From eight to sixteen eggs 

 are laid. They are most beautifully 

 marked on a creamy-white ground 

 with scattered spots and blotches of 

 old gold, and sometimes light drab and 

 chestnut red. In some specimens the 

 gold coloring is so pronounced that it 

 strongly suggests :o the imagination 

 that this quail feeds upon the grains 

 of the precious metal which character- 

 izes its home, and that the pigment 

 is imparted to the eggs. 



After the nesting season these birds 

 commonly gather in "coveys" or bevies, 



usually composed of the members 'of 

 but one family. As a rule they are 

 terrestrial, but may take to trees when 

 flushed. They are game birds par 

 excellence, and, says Chapman, trusting 

 to the concealment afforded by their 

 dull colors, attempt to avoid detection 

 by hiding rather than by flying. The 

 flight is rapid and accompanied by a 

 startling whirr, caused by the quick 

 strokes of their small, concave, stiff- 

 feathered wings. They roost on the 

 ground, tail to tail, with heads point- 

 ing outward ; " a bunch of closely 

 huddled forms a living bomb whose 

 explosion is scarcely less startling 

 than that of dynamite manufacture." 



The Partridge is on all hands ad- 

 mitted to be wholly harmless, and at 

 times beneficial to the agriculturist. 

 It is an undoubted fact that it thrives 

 with the highest system of cultivation, 

 and the lands that are the most care- 

 fully tilled, and bear the greatest quan- 

 tity of grain and green crops, generally 

 produce the greatest number of Part- 

 ridges. 



79 



