[2.2.2.] BIRDSOFOREGON 



bordered by white, breast bluish gray; belly scaled except for central deep-chestnut 

 patch; flanks dark olivaceous or smoky brown, streaked with white. Adult female, : 

 Head wichout black or white markings, general color grayish brown, belly scaled, 

 without chestnut patch; chestnut on sides; sides streaked with white. Young: chest 

 gray, marked with triangular white spots, belly faintly barred with grayish; upper 

 parts brownish, streaked and spotted with whitish. (Adapted from Bailey.) 

 Downy young: "In the small chick of this species the front half of the crown and sides 

 of the head are 'ochraceous-tawny'; a broad band of 'russet,' bordered with black, 

 extends from the center of the crown to the hind neck, and there is an auricular stripe 

 of the same color; the rest of the upper parts are from 'ochraceous-buff' to 'warm 

 buff,' striped, banded, or blotched with black; the chin and throat are white, and 

 the rest of the under parts are grayish white, suffused with buff on the breast." 

 (Bent) Si%e-' Length about 9.50, wing 4.35-4.70, tail 4.10-4.70. Nest: A slight 

 hollow in the ground, lined with grass or leaves and well hidden. Eggs: 12. to 16, 

 dull white to cream buff. 



DISTRIBUTION. General: From Upper Klamath Lake and Rogue River Valley of 

 southern Oregon south through California (except on coast) to Lower California. 

 In Oregon: Native at least to Klamath, Lake, Jackson, and Josephine Counties. Now 

 spread over entire State by transplanting. 



OWING TO the activities of sportsmens' organizations and the Oregon 

 Game Commission, the Valley Quail is now widely distributed over the 

 State. It is most abundant in the counties bordering on California, but 

 can be found in goodly numbers in every other part of the State except the 

 coast counties. We have had available a large series of skins taken from 

 all over the State subsequent to the scrambling of local strains by trans- 

 planting operations that date back to about 1870. The largest single 

 operation seems to have been in 1914 when some 1,2.00 birds were trapped 

 in Jackson and Josephine Counties and liberated in many places through- 

 out the State. We find all the specimens to be L. c. valltcola. Three birds 

 in the group, from Brownsboro, Jackson County, tend toward the darker 

 L. c. californica, but to date we have found no birds of this race in Oregon. 

 We would expect to find them in Coos and Curry Counties, if they are 

 present at all, and unfortunately we have no specimens from that terri- 

 tory. Newberry (1857) stated that the Valley Quail was common through 

 the southern Oregon mountains and that he had taken specimens in the 

 Willamette Valley. There is one L. c. californtca in the National Museum 

 taken by Newberry in that valley, which, in view of the lack of any other 

 birds of this subspecies in Oregon, we feel may well have been collected 

 farther south on his trip and mislabeled. 



This little quail with its pert crest is a favorite all over the State. It 

 is not so good a game bird as the Eastern Bobwhite, as it often runs to 

 escape danger and does not work so well with dogs. It does, however, 

 thrive better than its eastern cousin and has become a common and 

 widely distributed bird in the past few decades. The rather harsh call 

 note is a familiar sound to all bird lovers, and the sight of a covey running 

 about in the gathering twilight is very common. 



