ZOOLOGY. 403 



to be much attached to each other, and if they are scattered, 

 they are very uneasy until all are collected again. In such 

 cases the hunter can entice them to come to him by imitating 

 the call of either old or young. They are easily domesticated 

 more readily than their brethren of the valley. The mountain 

 partridge hates the quail, and when brought into its presence 

 always attacks it ; the smaller bird makes no resistance. 



GambePs quail (Lorphortyx gambdli) is a bird differing 

 from the Californian quail only in having duller colors, and 

 is perhaps specifically the same, the difference in color being a 

 mere accident of climate. Occasionally white quails, very 

 similar in form and size to the Lophortyx califomicus, are 

 found near Humboldt Bay. 



The sage-cock, or cock of the plains, ( Centrocercus eropha- 

 sianus) the largest of the American grouse, often weighing 

 five or six pounds, inhabits the dry plains in the vicinity of 

 Pit River. It is sometimes twenty-nine inches long and forty- 

 two inches across from tip to tip of outstretched wings. Its 

 color above is variegated with black, brown, brownish-yellow, 

 and whitish-yellow ; its breast is white, its belly black. The 

 male has bare, flame-colored patches of skin on the neck, 

 which are ordinarily hidden by the feathers, but which are 

 plainly visible when he struts about before the hen, with his 

 neck puffed out like a pouter-pigeon's. 



The sharp-tailed grouse (Pedioccetes phasianettm) is also found 

 in the northeastern corner of the State. It is eighteen inches 

 long, light brownish-yellow above, varied with black, and 

 white beneath, the feathers on the breast and sides having 

 brown marks shaped like a V. The tail is long and sharp, the 

 central feathers and the others growing gradually shorter as 

 they approach the sides ; there are eighteen feathers in the 

 tail. 



The dusky grouse (Tetrao obscurus) inhabits the coniferous 

 forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the northeastern part of the 

 State. The cock, according to common report, is the hand- 



