THE QUAILS OF CALIFORNIA. 63 



the second syllable that it becomes Tc-woicTi-uh, and often 

 this last uh is dropped entirely, and only a low k-woick 

 is heard. During hatching-time, the male, perched upon 

 a bush near the nest, sends forth, at intervals of a 

 minute or two, a low waTi full of deep content, and often 

 during this time, when on the ground or moving about, 

 he gives a metallic -toned wheeooo or teeooo, often 

 sounded several times in quick succession, and sometimes 

 in a husky tone. The alarm-call is a sharp wJiit, whit, 

 whit, changing often into a low, muffled wook, wook, wook, 

 wook, while the birds are on the ground, but when they 

 rise, a sharp, clear chirp, cJiirp, chirp, is the only sound 

 heard, and this is generally from birds started singly. 



This quail is abundant over the greater part of Cali- 

 fornia, and for several hundred miles below the Mexican 

 line, in those sections where the rain-fall is sufficient. 

 Its numbers in many sections, before the railroads opened 

 the country to the market-shooter, were incredibly great, 

 especially in the County of San Diego, where it so 

 abounded as to astonish even old California shots from 

 other parts of the State. The statement may seem 

 extravagant, but for many years it was a simple mat- 

 ter for any good shot to bag 200 in a day, all at single 

 shots on the wing. For several years dozens of market 

 shooters shipped an average of 10.000 apiece for the sea- 

 son. This hoggish work, with the number crippled and 

 finally killed, has greatly reduced their numbers. But 

 seventy -five or a hundred can still be killed in a few 

 hours, though it requires far more tramping than for- 

 merly to do it. 



These figures will be readily understood by recollect- 

 ing that the abundance of the birds is more apparent than 

 real. During the shooting-season they are concentrated; 

 during the months of July and August the bevies run 

 together, like those of the pinnated grouse, into flocks of 



