California Quail 



295 



stump, the top of a rock, or a bush; "but when alarmed, a note like ' quit-quit* 

 is used. " The nesting season begins early, and in the lower foot-hills two broods 

 are often reared, but higher up in the mountains only one. The nest is concealed 

 under a fallen tree-top, by the side of a log, or in tangled weeds and grass, and 

 the eggs are sometimes as many as twenty, but usually only twelve or fifteen. 

 California Quail and Relatives. Another and larger genus of crested 

 Quails is Lophortyx, the six or seven forms of which are distributed from 

 Washington through Oregon, California, and well into western Mexico. The 

 sexes, unlike the last genus, are very different in coloration. The beautiful 

 California Quail (L. californicus] is one of the handsomest and best known 

 of the Pacific coast game birds. About nine and a half inches long, the male 

 has the crest and throat black, the latter with white margins, the mantle olive- 

 brown, chest and tail gray, and the abdomen with black scale-like markings, 

 and a central spot of chestnut, while the 

 flanks are olive-brown, with white streaks. 

 The female, on the other hand, has the 

 head without the black and white markings, 

 the prevailing color being smoky brownish, 

 and the abdomen lacks the chestnut patch. 

 "Their favorite haunts," says Bendire, 

 " are the undergrowth and thickets along 

 water courses, brush-covered side hills and 

 canyons, frequenting the roads, cultivated 

 fields, vineyards, and edges of clearings 

 to feed. It is a constant resident, and 

 breeds wherever found." When not mo- 

 lested, they become very tame, almost do- 

 mesticated, coming frequently to the vicinity 

 of dwellings, and nesting and rearing the 

 young among the shrubbery near by, but as 

 with other birds, constant persecution has 



made them shyer. Formerly it is said to have been a not uncommon sight to 

 see flocks of five hundred or more together, but in late years coveys of fifty 

 are as large as it is usual to find. It is a pleasing sight to see them running 

 about among the shrubbery or scurrying into the hedgerows from a dust 

 bath in the road. Their nest is a very slight affair, being simply a hollow 

 scratched in the ground at the base of a stump, in a pile of brush, or a thicket 

 of grass and weeds, and occasionally the eggs may be placed in a hen's nest 

 in the chicken house. From twelve to sixteen creamy white, spotted or 

 blotched eggs constitute a set. A paler, grayer colored race, known as the 

 Valley Partridge (L. c. vallicola}, is found in the interior districts of Cali- 

 fornia and Oregon, ranging south through the peninsula to Lower California, 

 where it often occurs in great numbers. Similar to these but with the flanks 

 chestnut streaked with white, and the abdomen with a central black patch, 

 but without the scale-like markings, is the Gambel's Partridge (L. gambeli) 



FIG. 98. California Quail, Lophortyx 

 californicus. 



