148 Vol. IX 



THE GAMBElv PARTRIDGE IN CAIvIFORNIA 

 By M. FRENCH OILMAN 



IN response to a query in a recent Condor concerning the western limit of the 

 range of Lophortyx gaiuheli, I will give some of my observations. 



Beginning at Fig Tree John's place, 197 feet below the sea level, as the 

 most easterly point of my quail hunting I found the birds very numerous all over 

 the western part of Salton sink. At Mecca, Thermal, Coachella and Indio, settle- 

 ments in the Coachella Valley all below sea level, the birds are very common and 

 do considerable damage in the vineyards. Along the southwest part of the valley 

 next the Martinez Mountains are the Indian villages of Agua Dulce, Alamos, Mar- 

 tinez and Toros, where the birds seem more numerous, if anything, and much 

 tamer, as the Indians hunt them very rarely. The dense mesquite and screw- 

 bean thickets provide a safe retreat and with the Crissal Thrasher and Abert 

 Towhee they form a happy, if hot, family. 



At Indian Wells, near the rim of the ancient sea, I saw a few flocks of this 

 quail. Here they must go some distance for water as the well is the only known 

 supply for several miles. But the birds may have their own source of liquid re- 

 freshment as I saw other species there; such as L,econte Thrashers, Abert Towhees, 

 Phainopeplas, Saint L,ucas Woodpeckers and Plumbeous Gnatcatchers. 



At Palm Springs, altitude about 500 feet, gamheli is thoroly at home in the 

 screw-bean and paloverde thickets. They are much hunted here and develop a 

 faculty of escaping, that disgusts and baffles the hunter. A big flock is seen and 

 pursued. They divide and Nimrod follows the larger portion which again divides 

 and this process of elimination by division continues till the hunter finds he has 

 been up against a vanishing fraction. If near a range the flock immediately takes 

 to the hills and anyone who has once followed them up those sun-burned rocks is 

 ever afterward in the sour grapes class. 



From the old sea level westward, the desert gradually narrow^s and the altitude 

 increases till San Gorgonio Pass is reached, altitude 2500 feet. W. G. Wright of 

 San Bernardino has termed this northwest arm of the Colorado Desert a cornucopia, 

 and from a naturalist's standpoint the name is well deserved. A former San Ber- 

 nardino journalist, Kearny by name, once dubbed it a continental funnel, from the 

 atmospheric activity sometimes displayed there. At suitable points along this 

 narrowing arm of the desert are found small colonies of the Desert Quail as it is 

 commonly called. At Whitewater they breed regularly and are found occasionally, 

 or even regularly in small numbers, to within three miles of Banning, or six miles 

 east of the San Bearnardino meridian. Banning seems the extreme western limit 

 of their range; at least I have no knowledge of any seen west of that point. Here 

 the characteristic desert plants such as Yucca baccata, Dalea califoniica and 

 Dalea schottii, Larrea mexicana, and various cacti, give way to a more civilized 

 flora. 



To the north of the Coachella Valley is the Morongo range of mountains, the 

 desert continuation of the San Bernardino range and separating the below-sea-level 

 desert from a higher district which merges into the Mojave desert to the north. In 

 this range the desert quail are found and all along the north desert slopes of the 

 San Bernardino range as well, to nearly, if not quite, the San Bernardino meridian. 

 At such points as Mission Creek, Morongo, Warren's Well, the "Pipes," Rattle- 

 snake Canyon, Burn's Canyon, and Old Woman Springs the Gambel Partridge is 

 at home. At points across the range north of Salton in the mining districts at 



