226 ZOOLOGY. 



■which passes back along the side of the crown ; within this white, anteriorly and laterally, is a black suffusion. The vertex 

 and occiput light brown. Chin and throat black, margined laterally and behind by a white band, beginning behind the eye. 

 Belly pale buff anteriorly, an orange brown rounded patch in the middle, and white laterally, the feathers all margined 

 abruptly with black. The feathers on the sides of body like the back, streaked centrally with white. Feathers of top and 

 sides of neck with the margins and shafts black. Under tail coverts buff, broadly streaked centrally with brown. 



Female similar, without the white and black of the head ; the feathers of the throat brownish yellow, streaked with brown. 

 The buff and orange brown of the belly wanting. The crest short. 



Length, 9.50 inches; wing, 4.32; tail, 4.12. 



Hab. — Plains and lowlands of California and Oregon towards the coast. Mohave river. Puget Sound, W. T. (Introduced.) 



I have some doubts whether the quail found at Fort Vancouver do not belong to this species; 

 never having examined birds from that locality, I can throw no light on the subject. 



The present species, however, does exist on the prairies near Paget Sound, but has only been 

 resident there since the spring of 1857, at which time, through the commendable liberality of 

 Gov. Charles H. Mason, and of Hugh Allen Goldsborough, esq., two lots were imported from 

 San Francisco and turned loose upon the gravelly plains near Olympia, the capital of the 

 Territory. 



I have heard subsequently only concerning the Goldsborough flock, which, consisting 

 originally of nine individuals, of whom but four were females, had increased by the next 

 winter to a covey of nearly a hundred individuals. 



Note. — Mr. Geo. Gibbs writes: '"The crested quail cannot be considered as an inhabitant of 

 Washington Territory, as they are very rarely seen north of the Columbia river, and then, I 

 believe, only at Fort Vancouver. I have never seen any east of the Cascade mountains. I 

 met great numbers of the common California species (L. californica) on Russian river in 1851, 

 and saw them again on the Klamath in ' 852. They were very tame, and took to the bushes 

 when disturbed, perching on the limbs. Like the sharp-tailed grouse they gather in large flocks. 

 This is the case even when young, and it has been doubted whether several females do not 

 belong to one male, and with their broods all run together. — S. 



