193 The Wilson Bulletin — No. 85 



above brown streaked with black, bare space around eyes- 

 blue and orange, feathers of head and neck bristle-tipped, 

 eyelids lashed, crest a glossy, bronzy green, with white thumb- 

 marks on his tail, — his whole plumage coarse and harsh 

 Could you imagine such a looking creature? Try and think 

 of a long striped snake on two legs, a feather duster on his 

 head and another trailing behind ; or a tall, slim tramp in 

 a swallow-tailed coat, a black-and-blue eye, and a head of 

 hair standing on end ! There you are ! All equally ridicu- 

 lous looking. 



To see our feathered what-is-it you must go to the high, 

 dusty foothills as a rule, although he sometimes strays down 

 into the suburbs. If you are driving he will run along down 

 the road ahead of you, keeping ahead no matter how fast you 

 drive. It is said he can outrun the swiftest horse. He be- 

 longs to the cuckoo famil}^ and is sometimes called ground 

 cuckoo, lizard bird, or a chaparral cock ; the INIexicans call 

 him " little friend." As to diet, he eats mice, lizards, crickets, 

 centipedes, crabs, snails, garter snakes and cactus fruit, — ^ 

 most any old thing. Perhaps this strange menu accounts for 

 his looks ! 



Of Quails,^ Arizona boasts four different species : the 

 Masked Bob-white, so called because its face and throat are 

 black ; the Scaled Quail, whose bluish-gray feathers resemble 

 scales ; Gambel's Quail, the common valley quail of the west ; 

 and the Mearns Ouail,^ the United States form of the Mas^ 

 sena Quail of Mexico. This is indeed a most striking quar- 

 tet as you see them beautifully mounted in the University 

 Aluseum ; all of the greatest beauty of plumage, the Mearns 

 being in addition quite odd looking. Its face is striped with 

 black and white, its body is stubby and plump, the under parts 

 dark brown, spotted with large, round white spots. Instead 

 of raising its crest in the usual way it is said to spread it out 

 laterally like half a mushroom. The Gambel and Scaled 

 Quails can be found near the city, the others are found only 



^ See figiu'es opp. pages 118 and 122, Bailey's Handbook and 

 American Ornithology, Vol. 2, No. 1, Vol. 4, No. 1. 

 ^See Condor, Vol. XI., pg. 39. 



