62 FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



The stomach of each animal caught was carefully examined and in no instance 

 has there been discovered evidence that anyone of them had fed upon quail either 

 young or old. There has been a noticeable increase of rodents and rabbits, however, 

 but the extent to which that is due to an unusually propitious breeding season or to 

 the elimination of the predators can not be determined at this time. Families of 

 newly hatched quail are still appearing and it is not possible to make an accurate 

 census, but an estimated comparison between the population at this time last year 

 and now suggests that the population has more than doubled. It will be necessary 

 to wait until the quail have reached the adult stage in order to take a dependable 

 census. 



A special study is being made to obtain predatory evidence relative to the road- 

 runners of this area. To date nineteen have been examined. The stomachs of none 

 of them reveal evidences of young quail or egg shells. There are possibly eight or 

 ten more birds living on the refuge. Coopers and Sharp-shinned hawks are rare and 

 none have been collected. 



On the Otay refuge no predators are being taken and the study there is being 

 devoted to the following features : Nesting activities, covey formation and breaking, 

 cover requirements, food materials, movements in relation to food and water supply 

 and the effects of grazing. 



The nests are extremely difficult to locate only eight having been found, three 

 before hatching and the remainder shortly aftei'ward. Of the three former, one 

 containing two eggs was trampled by a cow ; one contained twenty-four eggs of 

 which twenty hatched and the other twenty-one of which twenty hatched. The five 

 discovered after hatching contained respectively IG, 9, 8, 12 and 10 broken eggs. 

 The one holding ten was the only dne with unhatched eggs of which two are included 

 in the count of ten. Hatching had evidently taken place several days prior to the 

 discovery but the embryos were still alive. 



The history of the brood from the nest containing twenty-four eggs is fairly 

 complete and appears to be a representative example of the fate of the majority of 

 the families. This nest was first discovered on April 16 and contained twenty eggs. 

 It was hatched on May 4. At the end of the following two weeks the number was 

 reduced to thirteen birds. At the end of that period they were able to take more 

 adequate care of themselves and the same thirteen were counted when they were last 

 observed on July 10th. Before they wei'e able to fly one of the young was captured 

 with a large cactus spine in its leg. It is doubtful if it survived after the removal 

 of the spine as they are decidedly poisonous. The fate of the other six in the family 

 is unknown. 



The fate of about fifteen families has been studied and it appears that those 

 originally containing fi'om thirteen to seventeen members are reduced to from six 

 to nine by the time they are able to fly adequately. Several families having but two 

 or thi-ee members have been seen. This suggests that there is a predator which will 

 kill a number of birds at one time. This suspicion has rested on the road-runner for 

 a long while and we are endeavoring to study the activities of these birds on the 

 Otay area. Young families of quail are still appearing, one of ten members about 

 two days old was noted on July 15th. 



Coveys are apparently formed from families whose daily range overlaps. They 

 are made up of adults and their young which are well able to fly. Young families 

 may live in the same area as a newly formed covey but the parents or young will not 

 join the covey until the latter have reached a more than half-grown stage. Newly 

 formed coveys tend to be large. Of two in this area one contains a hundred birds 

 and is still growing, another eighty birds. It remains to be seen if these large coveys 

 break up into smaller groups as the water or food supply diminishes. The break- 

 ing-up of the covey prior to nesting is a gradual pi-ocess and to the best of our 

 observations pairs are made up of individuals within a covey rather than between 

 individuals of different coveys. What cross-breeding exists between coveys is the 

 result of the manner in which the covey is formed rather than mating outside of 

 the covey. 



The character of cover plants afforded for roosting sites appears to be important 

 in determining' the size of a covey for a covey will not split up and retain its 

 integi-ity when the roosting sites afforded are too small to accommodate it and very 

 far removed from each other. Therefore, large compact clumps of shrubbery (Rhus 

 integrifolia and R. laurina in this area) are necessary to contribute to large coveys. 

 . - A study of the indigenous seed foods of the quail is being made. This is done 

 by collecting the seeds of the various plants as they become mature and determining 



