THE CALIFORNIA QUAIL 



By JOSEPH MAILLIARD 



%^t /Rational Si00omiion of audubon fbocittit0 



EDUCATIONAL LEAFLET NO. 58 



The California Quail — using this name for the two subspecies we have in 

 the state — is one of the most interesting, and also most commonly met with, 

 of the birds of California. 



Along the more rainy and damper coast-belt, the Quail is of a darker hue 

 and larger form; while, in the dryer interior and in the deserts, where the sun 

 shines nearly every day in the year, and often shines intensely, it is somewhat 

 smaller and paler. The darker bird is called the California Quail, and the 

 paler one the Valley Quail. 



The range of one or the other of these 'races' or 'subspecies' extends from 

 north to south, from east to west, except at the higher elevations, almost 

 throughout the state. From the lesser mountains of northern Cali- 

 Range fornia to the waste areas of the southern deserts, from the wave- 



washed cliffs of the western seacoast to the foothills of the snow- 

 capped Sierras, it varies in abundance, it is true ; but it is to be seen and heard 

 amid the rocks and cactus of the Colorado desert, where it thrives in friendly 

 contest with its cousin, Gambel's Quail, among the vast sagebrush areas of 

 central and southern California, on the plains in the great valleys where green 

 stretches of alfalfa are a striking contrast to the fields of golden grain waving 

 in the summer breeze, in the live oak and chaparral-covered hills nearer the 

 coast, or among the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, up to a height 

 of three or four thousand feet. In fact, wherever there is a little water to drink, 

 a sheltered place to roost at night, and grain or grass seeds for food, one is 

 apt to come across this species. And it is a bird worth meeting! 



Always sleek and well-groomed, except when molting, with an air of sedate 

 but active respectability, quick as a flash when danger threatens, the male, 

 with his richer coloring and gracefully curved head-plumes, seems ever proud 

 as he marches about, or runs swiftly along in search of food, while his consort 

 follows meekly in her more quiet garb. 



The Quail has several very distinct and differently used notes and calls. 

 The most commonly noticed call is really more like a rooster's crow than a 

 song, and is easily imitated by a child, a woman, or even by a 

 Notes man, if he has a good falsetto, and sounds something like ka-ka-kao, 



which is interpreted by various human beings to suit their fancy. 

 Some claim that Mr. Quail says, "Put that down!" others that he 

 distinctly means, "Cut it out!" while the hunters know that he says, "You 

 go 'way!" But this call is given only when he feels happy. There is a varia- 



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