THE MASKED BOB WHITK. 13 



common as the Gambel's and Scaled Partridges, which are found in the same 

 regions. The eggs appear to be indistinguishable from those of the eastern 

 Bob White, and no specimen is figured- on that account. 



6. Oreortyx pictus (DOUGLAS). 



MOUNTAIN PARTRIDGE. 



Oriyx picta DOUGLAS, Transactions of the Linnsean Society, xvi, 1829, 143. 

 Oreortyx pictus BAIRD, Birds of North America, 1858, 642. 



(B 473, C 390, R 481, C 574, U 292.) 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE : Pacific coast districts, from Santa Barbara, California, 

 north to Washington. 



This handsome bird is the largest of the American Partridges. It is better 

 known on the Pacific coast by the name of "Mountain Quail." Its range is not 

 an extensive one, as it is only found along the western slopes of the Coast 

 Range in California from about latitude 34 northward, and throughout western 

 Oregon, where it has a slightly more easterly range than in California, typical 

 specimens having been taken near Mount Hood. In regard to its occurrence in 

 the new State of Washington, Prof. O. B. Johnson, of the University of Wash- 

 ington, Seattle, Washington, writes me as follows: "Twenty years ago this 

 species was found but little north of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, but they 

 gradually worked down the south side of the Columbia River toward Astoria. 

 and in 1872 I was informed that some of these birds, shot at Kalama, Wash- 

 ington, were the first seen north of the Columbia. A crate of trapped birds sent 

 to the Seattle market, were some time afterward purchased by the Young Nat- 

 uralists' Society and set free. These have since multiplied nicely, and others 

 have been sent to Whitby Island, 40 miles north of Seattle, where, I under- 

 stand, they are also doing well. A covey wintered in a barn lot with the hens. 

 just at the outskirts of Seattle this winter." 



It is only within the last twenty years that this Partridge has obtained a 

 permanent footing in Washington, and while a few birds may have crossed the 

 Columbia River near Kalama, the majority were introduced, quite a number 

 having been liberated near Vancouver Barracks and other localities as well. 

 This species is affected by climatological conditions, and is only to be found in 

 the moist mountainous regions along the coast, where the rainfall is heavy. In 

 the dryer regions of the interior it is replaced by a paler race, Oreortyx pirtu* 

 plumiferus. 



The Mountain Partridge is a constant resident wherever found, and is quite 

 common in portions of its range, especially about Fort Gaston, California. Its 

 habits are similar to those of the Plumed Partridge, which will 'be more fully 

 described. Professor Johnson writes me, "the males have a sharp challenge 

 note, which they utter with the beak pointing straight up and with wings 

 dropped, while standing on a fencepost, broken limb, or upturned root. It is a 



