It) FRANK SCHLEY'S PARTRIDGE AND PHEASANT SHOOTJN<J. 



leading down to Elizabeth Lake. They wiv seen by the 

 hunters on the mountains surrounding Tejon Valley; but 

 though he went several times in search of them, he ob- 

 tained none. 



Mr. Ridgway met with the Mountain Quail on the foot- 

 hills of the Sierra Nevada, in the vicinity of Genoa and 

 Carson City, and also in the mountain ranges lying imme- 

 diately to the eastward of the Sierra. It was quite rare 

 and very difficult to discover, and when found was gener- 

 ally met with accidentally. He obtained it in November 

 in the thick chaparral at the eastern base of the Sierra Ne- 

 vada. In May he secured a pair in the cedar woods a little 

 to the eastward of Carson City, and in December a flock 

 was met with on the Comstock Mountain, near Pyramid 

 Lake. Its call-note when a flock is scattered is almost ex- 

 actly like that of a Hen-Turkey, only proportionally weaker. 

 When a flock is startled, they utter a confused chuckling 

 note, something like that of the common eastern Quail. The 

 male has a very pleasant crowing-note which sounds some 

 like koo-ltoo-lioo'e. The settlers in Nevada, say that, previ- 

 ous to the settlement of that country by the whites, this 

 Quail was not found east of the Sierra Nevada, and affirms 

 that they followed the wagon-roads over the mountains, in 

 the rear of trains and wagons, for the purpose of picking 

 up the grain scattered along the road. Mr. Ridgway does 

 not give full credit to the truth of these statements, as lie 

 was informed by the Indians at Pyramid Lake, that, within 

 the memory of the oldest members of their tribe, it had 

 always been found in that vicinity. 



An egg of this species taken by Dr. Canfield, near .Mon- 

 terey, California, measures 1.45 inches in length by 1.10 in 

 breadth. It is oval in shape; one end is considerably more 

 pointed than the other. It is of a very rich cream-color, 

 with a reddish shading, and unspotted. Vol. III., Btnr<L 

 Brewer and Ridgway. 



