ZOOLOGY. 401 



ole, are of species not found in the Atlantic States. The 

 majority of the Oscines indigenous on this Coast are unknown 

 in the older States. Our mocking-birds are never domesti- 

 cated, and are not to be compared to the mocking-bird of 

 Virginia. 



321. Soratchers. The ornithological order of Rasores, or 

 scratch ers, is represented in California by eleven species, 

 namely : one pigeon, two doves, three grouse, two quails, one 

 partridge, and one sand-hill crane. The pigeon, partridge, 

 grouse, quails, and one of the doves, are specifically different 

 from the birds known by the same name east of the Missis- 

 sippi. The wild-turkey is not indigenous in our State. 



The most abundant and prominent of our scratchers, the 

 Californian quarl, (Lophortyx californicus) is found in all the 

 valleys of California and Oregon. Its breast and upper parts 

 are lead-colored, with an olive-brown gloss on the back and 

 wings ; the chin and throat are black, with a white line run- 

 ning backward from the eye ; the forehead is brownish-yellow ; 

 the belly is pale buff, with an orange-brown round spot in the 

 middle, changing to white at the sides ; the feathers on the 

 back and sides have a central streak of white, and those on 

 the top and slides of the neck have black edgings. The head 

 bears a erest numbering from three to six feathers, usually 

 five, about an inch and a half long. The shafts are bare, very 

 slender, and, though all are in a straight line on the longitu- 

 dinal medial line of the head, they are so near together as to 

 look like but one shaft, more especially as the fine, fur-like 

 bushes at their tops all combine to form a compact little plume. 

 These feathers are usually erect, the plume leaning forward 

 when the bird is trying to look its best in the presence of 

 company; but when running about in the grass, and not 

 thinking of its appearance, the crest is lowered, falling for- 

 ward over the bill. 



The Californian quail has two notes the song and the call. 

 The song of the Atlantic quail is in two notes the well-knowa 

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