THE CALIFORNIA QUAIL 



By JOSEPH MAILLIARD 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 58 



The California Quail including under this name the two subspecies 

 we have in the State is one of the most interesting and most commonly 

 met with of the birds of California. 



Along the more rainy and damper coast-belt, the Quail is of a darker 

 hue and larger form ; while in the dryer interior and 

 in the deserts, where the sun shines nearly every day w 



in the year, and often shines intensely, it is somewhat 

 smaller and paler. The darker bird is called the California Quail, and the 

 paler one the Valley Quail. 



The range of one or the other of these 'races' or 'subspecies' extends 

 almost throughout the State except at the higher elevations. From the 

 lesser mountains of northern California to the waste areas of the southern 

 deserts, from the wave-washed cliffs of the western seacoast to the foot- 

 hills of the snow-capped Sierras, it is everywhere present in varying 

 abundance. It is to be seen and heard amid the rocks and cactus of the 

 Colorado Desert, where it thrives in friendly contest with its cousin, 

 Gambel's Quail ; among the vast sagebrush areas of central and southern 

 California ; on the plains of the great valleys where green stretches of 

 alfalfa are a striking contrast to the fields of golden grain waving in the 

 summer breeze ; in the hills covered with live oak and chaparral near the 

 coast; and among the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, up to a height 

 of three or four thousand feet. In fact, wherever there is a little water 

 to drink, a sheltered place to roost at night, and grain or grass-seeds 

 for food, one is likely to meet this species and it is a bird worth meeting ! 



Always sleek and well-groomed except w"hen molting, with an air 

 of sedate, but active, respectability, quick as a flash 

 when danger threatens, the male seems ever proud of ro " 



his richer coloring and gracefully curved head-plumes, 

 as he marches about or runs swiftly along in search of food, while his 

 consort follows meekly in her more quiet garb. 



The Quail has several very distinct and differently used notes and 

 calls. The call most commonly noticed is more like a rooster's crow 

 than a song, and is easily imitated by a child, a woman, or even by a man, 

 if he has a good falsetto, and sounds something Hke ka-ka-kao, which 

 is interpreted by various human beings to suit their fancy. Some declare 

 that Mr. Quail says "Put that down!." others that he distinctly means 

 "Cut it out !," while the hunters know that he says "You go'way !" Bu{ 



