the fall, just before the winter rains begin, they com- 

 mence their migrations down again to the foot-hills, 

 where they remain until the following spring. Unless 

 driven by unusually heavy snows, they rarely descend 

 lower than 2000 to 3000 feet above sea level. 



SAN PEDRO MARTIR MOUNTAIN QUAIL 

 (Oreortyx pictus confinis) 



The San Pedro partridge, so named by the ornithol- 

 ogist, is a resident of the San Pedro Martir mountains 

 of Lower California, and ascends to a height of ten 

 thousand feet, and is rarely seen lower than five thou- 

 sand feet above the sea. 



I want to say here that no work on ornithology that 

 I have seen, describes the San Pedro partridge prop- 

 erly. Most likely this is the result of an examination 

 of the intergrades only, for they do intergrade with the 

 California species to the northward. The two species 

 first mentioned have the plume from one and a half to 

 two and a half inches long and nearly round in form. 

 The plume of the San Pedro partridge is flat, about 

 three-sixteenths of an inch wide and from three and a 

 half to four and a half inches long. The plume of the 

 other varieties is erectile, but that of the San Pedro 

 denizen is soft and falls down the side. In all species 

 both sexes are alike, with the exception that the plume 

 of the female is generally a trifle the shorter; but this 

 can not always be relied upon to distinguish the sex. 



Generally speaking there is not much sport in hunting 

 the mountain quail, but I have at times had a bevy scat- 

 tered in ferns, and in such cases had very good sport 

 with them with a dog, and found them to lie very well. 

 They are about a half larger than the valley quail, and 

 as a table bird much more succulent. 



Color Top of head, back of neck and breast, an ashy 

 blue, darker on the back of the neck than the breast; 

 back and wings, inclining to olive brown, in the Coast 

 species with a slight reddish tinge; abdomen and flanks, 

 rich chestnut barred with black and white; under tail 

 feathers, black; entire throat, reaching well down onto 

 the breast, rich chestnut, bordered with white; chin, 

 white; bill, black. The two California species have two 

 round, black plumes falling gracefully over the back of 

 the neck, but erectile when excited. These plumes will 

 vary from one and a half to two and a half inches in 

 length. The Lower California species have two flat, 

 black plumes about three-sixteenths of an inch in width 

 13 



