QUAIL. 139 



to eye ; forehead whitish with black lines ; occiput smoky brown ; 

 nuchal and cervical feathers with very dull edgings and shaft lines, 

 and fine whitish speckling ; general color of upper parts ashy with 

 strong olive brown gloss, the edging of the inner quills brownish 

 orange ; fore breast slaty blue ; under parts tawny, deepening 

 centrally into rich golden brown or orange chestnut, all the feath- 

 ers sharply edged with jet black ; sides like the back with sharp 

 white stripes ; vent, flanks and crissum tawny with dark stripes. 

 Besides lacking the definite head markings, the female wants the 

 rich sienna color of the under parts which are whitish or tawny, 

 with black semicircles as in the male ; the breast is olive grey. In 

 size this species about equals our Bob White. 



The California Quail is usually found in large flocks, sometimes 

 containing hundreds of birds. They frequent hill-sides and 

 wooded gulches or arroyos, where such are to be found, and the 

 dense masses of chapparal which affords them cover. In culti- 

 vated districts they are to be found near or in vineyards and occa- 

 sionally in wheat-fields. Unlike their Eastern brethren, who 

 appear to squat on the ground at night, they roost in the thick and 

 almost impenetrable cover of a scrub oak or thorn bush. Setting 

 aside the fact of the birds being so much more numerous, the 

 shooting, owing to the openness of the ground, is much more dif- 

 ficult than in the East. California is, comparatively speaking, 

 destitute of wood except on almost inaccessible mountain sides, 

 and canons. The birds, in the fall of the year after the different 

 broods have packed, are found on the plains, where they feed on 

 the seeds of the alfilleria and burr clover. When driven to cover 

 and scattered they begin almost immediately to call with a whistle 

 not unlike, though more prolonged, than that of our bird. 



Lophortyx gambeli. — Nuttall. Gambel's Partridge, Arizona Quail. 



This species, which somewhat resembles the Valley Quail just 

 referred to, is confined to a portion of our south-western territory, 

 bounded on the north by the thirty-fifth parallel of latitude, on the 

 east by the Pecos River, and on the west by the Colorado ; south- 

 ward, its ranges extend into Mexico. It is most abundant in 

 New Mexico and Arizona, and is found in equal numbers on the 

 parched deserts and the rocky mountain sides. 



