136 KESOUKCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



— more readily than their brethren of the valley. The moun- 

 tain i^artridge hates the quail, and when brought into its pres- 

 ence always attacks it; the smaller bird makes no resistance, 



Gambel's quail {Lorphortyx gambelli) is a bird diiFering from 

 the Californian quail only in having duller colors, and is per- 

 haps specifically the same, the difference in color being a mere 

 accident of climate. Occasionally, white quails, very similar 

 in form and size to the Lophortyx calif ornicus^ are found near 

 Humboldt Bay. 



The sage-cock, or cock of the plains ( Centrocercus iirophasi- 

 aniis), the largest of the American grouse, often weighing five 

 or six pounds, inhabits the dry plains in the vicinity of Pit 

 River. It is sometimes twenty-nine inches long, and forty-two 

 inches across from tip to tip of outstretched wings. Its color 

 above is variegated with black, brown, brownish-yelloAv, and 

 whitish-yellow ; its breast is white, its belly black. The male 

 has bare, flame-colored patches of skin on the neck, which are 

 ordinarily hidden by the feathers, but which are plainly visible 

 when he struts about before the hen, with his neck puffed out 

 like a pouter pigeon's. 



The sharp-tailed grouse {Pedioccetes pliasianellus) is also 

 found in the northeastern corner of the state. It is eighteen 

 inches long, light brownish-yellow above, varied with black, 

 and white beneath, the feathers on the breast and sides having 

 brown marks shaped like a Y. The tail is long and sharp, the 

 central feathers and the others growing gradually shorter as 

 they approach the sides ; there are eighteen feathers in the 

 tail. 



The dusky grouse (Tetrao ohscurus) inhabits the coniferous 

 forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the northeastern part of the 

 state. The cock, according to common report, is the hand- 

 somest of all the American grouse. It is twenty inches long, 

 dark-brown above, mottled with lead-color, and lead-color be- 

 neath. There are twenty feathers in the tail, which is broadly 

 tip))ed with a light slate-color. 



The band-tailed pigeon ( Columba fasciata)^ the only wild 



