The Quail 'Family. 69 



THE CALIFORNIAN QUAIL, Callipepla californica, is 

 a most delightful bird, with but one drawback that I 

 know of, namely, a somewhat " touchy " disposition. 

 It is a plump, well-proportioned bird, not quite as 

 big as a partridge, of which it has very much the 

 carriage. The distinguishing feature of the species 

 consists in a tuft of plumes black in the male and 

 dark grey in the female that ornaments the head. 

 The whole of the plumage is- dark chocolate-brown, 

 except the abdomen and under-tail coverts, which are 

 nearly white. A crescent-shaped white stripe ex- 

 tends backwards from the eyes for half an inch, and 

 another white stripe starts from the base of the upper 

 mandible and passes in a circle round the throat. 

 I do not know of any birds that become so 

 thoroughly tame with their owner as these very 

 charming Quails so tame indeed as to be almost a 

 nuisance; while their pretty plumage -and quaint cries 

 combine to make them the most delightful of pets. 

 They cannot, however, be kept with other poultry, and 

 must have an enclosure to themselves, which, however, 

 they will share with thrushes, parrakeets, and other 

 feathered fowl of that kind, without any interference. 

 It is only gallinaceous birds that they evince any 

 objection to. 



The eggs, which vary from ten to twenty in 

 number, are creamy white, spotted and blotched with 

 chestnut-brown ; they differ greatly in appearance^ 

 however, and I have seen some almost white. Incu- 

 bation lasts twenty-one days, and the young run 

 about directly they leave the shell. They may be 

 reared quite readily on ants' eggs (as bought), a 



