THE GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE. 



[CaU pepia gambelii.) 



Gambel's Partridge is a rarely beauti- 

 ful and interesting bird, but because of 

 its limited range it is not as well known 

 as it deserves to be. It is a resident of 

 ''Northwestern Mexico and contiguous 

 portions of the United States from west- 

 ern Texas to Southern California, north 

 to southern Nevada and southern Utah." 

 In southern Arizona it is common where- 

 ever bodies of water are found. In 

 the days of travelling by stage coach 

 over the hot plains of Arizona the sight 

 of a Gambel's Partridge was always wel- 

 come, for it indicated that water was 

 not far away. In this dusty region water 

 was ever a desideratum of the traveler. 

 Not infrequently springs and pools of 

 water were several miles apart. Thus 

 the appearance of this handsome game 

 bird was indeed cheering to the weary 

 traveler, who soon gave it the name 

 Arizona quail. 



Major Charles Bendire gives the fol- 

 lowing interesting account of the habits 

 of Gamibers Partridge as he observed 

 them while camping near Tucson, Ari- 

 zona : "During the winter and early 

 spring coveys of these birds might be 

 seen almost daily, feeding and dusting 

 themselves in the immediate vicinity of 

 my camp, and especially on the wagon 

 roads leading to it. They frequented 

 these mostly in the mornings and occa- 

 sionally in the evenings, the birds 

 scratching about in the sand and dusting 

 themselves like domestic fowls. They 

 appeared very sociable and were con- 

 stantly calling to each other as the scat- 

 tered covey moved from place to place. 

 This note resembled the grunting of a 

 sucking pig more than anything else, and 

 it is rather difficult to reproduce the 

 exact sound in print. Any of the follow- 

 ing syllables resembles it, quoit, oit, zvoH, 

 uttered rapidly but in a low tone. Dur- 



ing the mating and breeding season, the 

 former commencing usually in the -latter 

 part of February, the latter about the 

 first week in April and occasionally later, 

 according to the season, the male fre- 

 quently utters a call like yuk-kde-ja, yuk- 

 kde-ja, each syllable distinctly articu- 

 lated and the last two somewhat drawn 

 out. A trim, handsome and proud look- 

 ing cock, whose more somber colored 

 mate had a nest close by, used an old 

 mesquite stump, about four feet high and 

 not more than twenty feet from my tent, 

 as his favorite perch and I had many 

 opportunities to watch him closely. 

 Standing perfectly erect with his beak 

 straight up in the air, his tail slightly 

 spread and wings somewhat drooping, 

 he uttered his call in a clear strong voice 

 every few minutes for a half hour or so, 

 or until disturbed, and this he repeated 

 several times a day. I consider it a call 

 of challenge or of exultation, and it was 

 taken up usually 1)y any other male in 

 the vicinity at the time. During the 

 mating season the males fight each other 

 persistently, and the victor defends his 

 chosen home against intrusion with much 

 valor." While courting his mate, this 

 handsome bird is at his best. In a grace- 

 ful and stately manner he struts around 

 the evasive female uttering soft cooing 

 notes and constantly bowing his head. 

 The alarm note, which Major Bendire 

 has likened to the syllables crder, crder 

 several times repeated, is usually uttered 

 by the entire covey. 



Though a ground bird and more 

 inclined to hide than to fly away when 

 disturbed, Gambel's Partridge frequently 

 perches in trees and by many authorities 

 it is believed to roost in trees at night. 

 Its food consists of grasshoppers and 

 ants, of which it is especially fond, 

 though it also eats other kinds of insects. 



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