The Valley-Quail of California 379 



lives so continuously in sight of man, advises him 

 so industriously of his presence, and makes him- 

 self so much at home in his garden. Morning, 

 noon, and night his call rings from the hillside by 

 the house ; he stands on the granite boulder and 

 surveys you with an air of defiant impudence, 

 trots along the road in front of your horse, and 

 helps himself to your finest grapes. With encour- 

 agement he will become tame enough to asso- 

 ciate with your chickens and dust himself in your 

 flower beds. In a cage he makes himself quickly 

 at home, and with plenty of room would probably 

 breed in captivity. 



No other bird, except his lively cousin of the 

 desert, Gambel's partridge, equals this bird in vivac- 

 ity. Unless disturbed he moves little on the wing, 

 but his feet are rarely at rest, and when they are 

 his tongue keeps up a low twittering. One can 

 hardly see as much of him as I did for years with- 

 out believing that to some extent he talks. Some 

 of his many notes are going nearly all the time, 

 even in the smallest bevy. The most common of 

 these is the assembling call, which he keeps going 

 when there is no need of it, so far as you can see. 

 This is of three flutelike notes, with the accent 

 generally strong on the second and sounding much 

 like O-hi-o. But the accent is often shifted to the 

 first and last notes, so that it sounds like Tuck- 

 a-hoe. Again, the first is suppressed, the middle 



