566 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



MALE TEXAS BOB WHITE 



This bird is the western quail which most closely -resembles our eastern 

 species. It is found no further westward than the southeastern corner of 

 New Mexico. 



Passenger Pigeon and the Labrador or Pied Duck, de- 

 scribed in the February (1917) issue of American 

 Forestry, where figures of both species are pre- 

 sented. 



More or less suddenly it will be observed that a cer- 

 tain species, or several species of birds are becoming 

 less and less abundant every year, be the cause what it 

 may known or unknown. Museums and collectors then 

 get busy, and the very movement put on foot to satisfy 

 the demands of such sources materially increases the 

 danger of the extinction of the species sought. 



This critical stage seems to now have been reached 

 in the case of all the beautiful species of quails found 

 throughout the Pacific Coast region. I can well remem- 

 ber when, fifty years ago, those returning from that 

 region, in the early days of California, reported the 

 presence of several of the species here shown in the illus- 

 trations in vast bevies, often numbering several thousand 

 each, such hosts occurring wherever the nature of the 

 country suited them. At the time to Yi^hich reference 

 is made, millions of these birds were to be found in 

 California alone, and they were equally abundant in 

 adjacent regions. But the gunners and hunters got after 

 them in ever-increasing numbers, with constantly im- 

 proved weapons, until the usual result was brought about ; 

 so that, at the present time, the various forms being con- 

 sidered are, with ever-increasing rapidity, confronted 

 with the same fate that man had in store for the Wild 

 Passenger Pigeon and the Great Auk. Already the prices 

 ^or the skins of these several species are being advanced 

 in the market for museums and collectors ; and this, as 

 pointed out above, is a very ominous sign for these most 

 beautiful members of their kind in any part of the world. 



Ihere is but one remedy for this very undesirable state 

 of affairs: to pass laws against the shooting, trapping or 

 otherwise destroying any of these species for a .long 

 period of years. 



Of course, sportsmen will protest vigorously against 

 any such legislation ; but the only way to save the quails 

 of the Pacific Coast is to stop shooting them. The birds 

 in mind are all generically represented in this article. 

 Our Bob-whites do not extend so far to the westward. 

 To be sure, the Masked Bob-white occurs on the south- 

 ern border of Arizona; but the bird that most closely 

 resembles our eastern species is the Texas Bob-white, 

 and that form is found no farther westward than the 

 southeastern corner of New Mexico. 



In so far as our own avifauna is concerned, there are, 

 beside the Bob-whites, four entirely distinct genera of 

 these western quails, and each genus contains, in addition 

 to its type species, from one to three subspecies, there 

 being about nine forms in all. In a brief article like the 

 present one, it will be quite out of the question to give 

 the descriptions, much less the ranges, where all of these 

 truly beautiful birds are to be found at this writing; 

 their photographs must stand for their appearances, and 

 their habitats are not essential; the main object of this 

 article being a plea to save them from certain and utter 

 extermination. 



Apart from Mearns' Quail I have had living speci- 

 mens of all these birds in my possession for the pur- 

 poses of photography, while the figure of the first-men- 

 tioned species was made from a mounted specimen in 

 the collection of the United States National Museum. 



THE BLUE quail 



This bird is also called the Chestnut-bellied Scaled Quail. It has a noticeably 

 slaty blue plumage. 



