GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 117 



GENUS OREORTYX. 



General Characters. Crest of two long slender plumes ; bill and feet 

 stout, tarsus equal to middle toe and claw ; tail about three fifths the 

 length of wing, broad, rounded, with long coverts ; wing five inches or 

 more. 



KEY TO ADULTS. 



1. Upper parts olive brown from tail to crest .... pic t us, p. 117. 

 1'. Upper parts grayish olive, bluish gray on nape . plumif erus, p. 117. 



292. Oreortyx pictus (DougL). MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE. 



Adult male. Crest black ; upper parts deep olive brown, usually to crest, 

 top of head bluish gray, stripes on sides of back buffy or yellowish brown, 

 throat and flanks deep chestnut, flanks broadly banded with black and 

 white ; breast plain bluish slate. (See Fig. 194.) Adult female : crest 

 usually shorter. Young : crest blackish, barred at end with pale brown, 

 breast gray, marked with triangular spots, throat and belly whitish ; upper 

 parts grayish brown, specked with white. Length : 10.50-11.50, wing 5.25- 

 5.40. 



Distribution. Resident mainly in humid Transition zone of Pacific 

 coast region, from Santa Barbara, California, north to Washington. 



Nest. On the ground, alongside or under an old log, bush, or other 

 shelter. Eggs : usually 8 to 12, creamy or creamy buff, unspotted. 



Food. Grasshoppers, beetles, ants, and other insects, berries, seeds, 

 buds, and leaves. 



Though 0. p. plumiferus has been given the name plumed par- 

 tridge to distinguish it from 0. pictus of the humid belt, both birds 

 are known locally as mountain quail, and their habits are practically 

 identical. 



292a. O. p. plumiferus (Gould). PLUMED PARTRIDGE. 



Like O. pictus, but upper parts olive, the hind neck usually partly or 

 wholly bluish slate like the breast ; 

 forehead generally paler, often whitish, 

 inner edge of tertials lighter buff or 

 buffy whitish. 



Distribution. Resident in arid Tran- 

 sition zone from the west side of the Fig. 194. 

 Cascades in northern Oregon, except 

 near the coast, south along both sides of the Sierra Nevada, and in the 

 southern coast ranges to northern Lower California. 



Nest. A slight hollow in the ground lined with a few dry leaves, pine 

 needles, and grasses, under shelter of thickets, bushes, weeds, or fallen 

 treetops. Eggs : 8 to 14, cream to reddish buff. 



In winter when there are heavy snows on the mountains, the 

 quail come down to the foothills, and have even been seen in Pasa- 

 dena, three miles from the base of the mountains. In summer they 

 are most abundant in the dense chaparral of Transition zone, 

 though they go much higher. 



Only once during two months spent in the Sierra, in the heart 

 of the plumed quail country, did I come face to face with one of 



