THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL 



(Oreortyx pictus) 



The mountain quails are the largest and most beau- 

 tiful of all the American quails, though the least hunted 

 and the least gamy. There is but one genus, with one 

 species and two subspecies. Two of these inhabit the 

 mountains of California and Oregon, and the third, the 

 high ranges of the peninsula of Lower California. While 

 most of the sportsmen of the Pacific Coast are convers- 

 ant with the general character and coloration of the 

 mountain quail, I believe but few of them have ever 

 seen the more beautiful species that inhabit the San 

 Pedro Martir mountains of Lower California. 



The present species, given the English name of moun- 

 tain partridge, by the ornithologists, and which he has 

 taken for his type, is a small race found only on the 

 Coast Range from the Bay of San Francisco north into 

 Oregon, and, therefore, never reaches the high altitudes 

 reached by its near relatives, the Oreortyx pictus plumi- 

 ferus, to which the English name, plumed partridge, has 

 been given. In fact, both of these varieties are plumed, 

 though that of the latter is a trifle the longer. The 

 fact that the plumed quail ascends the mountains each 

 spring to heights of from five to eight thousand feet for 

 nesting purposes, gives it a better claim to the name, 

 mountain, than has the other variety. 



The present species, the mountain quail, is generally 

 found in the canyons and on the damp hillsides where 

 ferns are abundant. They have very little of the migra- 

 tory habits of the other species, except when driven 

 down in the winter by the snows. Their habits and 

 general plan of coloration are so much like those of the 

 other two species that I shall describe them all to- 

 gether, with the proper mention of wherein they differ. 



THE PLUMED QUAIL 



(Oreortyx pictus plumiferus) 



The range of the plumed partridge is throughout the 



entire length of the Sierra Nevadas and of the coast 



range south of San Francisco bay into Lower California, 



where it intergrades with the San Pedro partridge, but 



it does not cross the Colorado river and enter Arizona 



or the mainland of Mexico. This species begins its 



migrations early in the spring, keeping close to the 



snow line until they reach altitudes as high as 7000 to 



8000 feet, where they nest and rear their young. In 



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