CALIFORNIA PARTRIDGE. 



'T' HIS is the species found in the coast region of Cali- 

 fornia, northward to Vancouver's Island, as sepa- 

 rated from its paler relative of the interior of Oregon, 

 southward to Cape St. Lucas. 



It is a very handsome bird, perhaps not quite equal in 

 this respect to its beautiful cousin Gambel's Partridge, 

 with which the uninitiated frequently confound it, but 

 with this solitary exception no other species can dispute 

 successfully its claim to be the handsomest member of 

 the family. 



It was not indigenous to the State of Washington, its 

 range not extending farther north than Oregon, but it 

 was introduced both there and in the islands of Puget 

 Sound, and also in Vancouver Island (where I met with 

 it), and has increased greatly in all these places. It is a 

 resident species, does not migrate, frequents canons and 

 bushy hillsides, also fields, is often seen in enormous 

 flocks, as if many broods had united together, and runs 

 rapidly over the ground, preferring to escape if possible 

 by this method than to make use of its wings. These 

 great flocks or packs are only formed in the fall of the 

 year after the breeding season is over, and occasionally the 

 number of birds gathered together will amount to several 

 hundred, and they are then wilder than ^t other times. 

 In the spring these packs gradually break up, and the 

 birds commence to mate in March, if the winter has not 

 lingered longer than usual. 



This species, like many others that have been persist- 



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f, 

 1 



