440 MOUNTAIN QUAIL OF CALIFORNIA — O. PICTU8, 



oraiige-chestnat, where the feathers are sharply edged with black. The 

 forehead is whitish, with black lines, instead of black with whitish 

 lines; the occiput is smoky-brown, instead of chestnut-browii ; there is 

 a small white loral stripe ; the vent, flanks and crissum are tawny, with 

 dark stripes; the long feathers of the sides are like the back, with 

 sharp, white stripes. In the hen bird the belly is whitish, or tawny, 

 with black semicircles, as in the cock ; while in the hen of gambeli the 

 same parts are whitish, with lengthwise dark marks. 



This species replaces the last in the Pacific coast region, from Wash- 

 ington Territory southward. It is abundant from the Columbia River 

 to Cape Saint Lucas, on the plains and in the valleys. In California 

 they are mostly restricted to the regions west of the Sierra Nevada, 

 which, with the Great Colorado Desert, form a barrier to their spread 

 eastward. But they do reach nearly. to the Colorado River, following 

 along the course of the Mojave River to the spot where it sinks in the 

 desert, there meeting the western extension of the range of L. gambeli. 

 Up the mountains it does not appear to reach a higher altitude than 

 three or four thousand feet, beyond which it is replaced by the Oreortyx 

 pictus. In its general habits it is the counterpart of Gambel's Quail. 



MOUNTAIN QUAIL OP CALIFORNIA.— Oeeorttx picttjs,* Bd. 



This is a magnificent species, much the largest and handsomest Quail 

 of this country. Its distribution is limited and rather peculiar, as it in- 

 habits almost exclusively the mountain ranges of Oregon and California. 

 Having never yet seen the bird alive, I can say nothing from personal 

 observation of its habits. Dr. Cooper furnishes the following account: 



" This bird, one of the most beautiful of its family, is common in the 

 higher ranges of California and Oregon, and I think a few are found 

 north of the Columbia. South of San Francisco they are unknown near 

 the coast, unless some birds seen by members of the Survey, in the 

 Mount Diablo range, at an elevation of over 3,000 feet, were of this 

 species. In the Sierra Nevada they have been obtained at Fort Tejon, 

 at about 4,000 feet elevation, and were seen at Cajon Pass, in winter, 

 about the same elevation, and in latitude Si^. They probably extend 

 further south in the mountains. At latitude 39° they descend in winter 

 to about 3,000 feet, and are found lower toward the north, until, in 

 Oregon, they frequent tlie borders of the Willamette Valley, but little 

 above the sea-level. They are not common anywhere within the range 

 of the gunners who supijlj the San Francisco market; all those I have 

 seen there having been brought alive from the Sierra Nevada. They 

 abound in summer up to 7,000 feet in that range, where I found them 

 in Septem.ber, the young not quite full grown and the old birds moult- 

 ing. In habits and flight they have considerable resemblance to our 



Lophortijx californica, Bp., List, 1833, 42.— Ndtt., Man. i, 2d ed. 1840, 789.— Bd., B. N. A. 

 1858, 644.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 225.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 

 549.— CouES, Key, lc572, 238.— B. B. & E., N. A B. iii, 1874, 479, pi. 64, figs. 1, -Z- 



* Ortyx picla, DouGL., Ti. Linn. Soc. xvi, 1829, 143. 



CalUpepla picta, Gould, Mmiog. Odont. 1850, 18, pi. xv. — ^Newb., P. E. K. Eep. vi, 93.— 



Heerm., ibid, x, 1859, Williamson's Route, Birds, 61. 

 Oreortyx picius, Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 642.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 225.— 



Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 546.— Coues, Key, 1872, 237.— B. B. & E., N. A. B. iu, 



1874, 475, pi. 63, fig. 5. 

 Ortyx plumifera, Gould, P. Z. S. v, 1837, 42.— AuD., Syn. 1839, 200 ; B. Am. v, 1842, 69, 



pi. 291. (May represent a slight variety.) 

 Perdix plumifera, AoD., Orn. Biog. v, 1839, 220, pi. 422. 

 Lophorlyx plumifera, NuTT., Man. i, 2d ed. 1840, 791. 



