134 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
of the Oscines indigenous on this coast are unknown in the 
older states. Our mocking-birds are never domesticated, and 
are not to be compared to the mocking-bird of Virginia. 
$104. Scratchers.—The ornithological order of Rasores, or 
scratchers, is represented in California by eleven species, name- 
ly: one pigeon, two doves, three grouse, two quails, one par- 
tridge, and one sand-hill crane. The pigeon, partridge, grouse, 
quails, and one of the doves, are specifically different from the 
birds known by the same name east of the Mississippi. ’ The 
wild-turkey is not found in our state. 
The most abundant and prominent of our scratchers, the 
Californian quail (Lophortyx californicus), is found in all the 
valleys of California and Oregon. Its breast and upper parts 
are lead-colored, with an olive-brown gloss on the back and 
wings; the chin and throat are black, with a white line run- 
ning backward from the eye; the forehead is brownish-yellow ; 
the belly is pale-buff, with an orange-brown round spot in the 
middle, changing to white at the sides; the feathers on the 
back and sides have a central streak of white, and those on 
the top and sides of the neck have black edgings. The head 
bears a crest numbering from three to six feathers, usually 
five, about an inch and a half long. The shafts are bare, very 
slender, and, though all are in a straight line on the longitu- 
dinal medial line of the head, they are so near together as to 
look like but one shaft, more especially as the fine, fur-like 
bushes at their tops all combine to form a compact little plume. 
These feathers are usually erect, the plume leaning forward 
when the bird is trying to look its best in the presence.of com- 
pany; but when running about in the grass, and not thinking 
of its appearance, the crest is lowered, falling forward over the 
Dill. 
The Californian quail has two notes—the song and the call. 
‘the song of the Atlantic quail is in two notes—the well-known 
whistle, sounding like “ Bob-White.” The song of the Cali- 
fornian quail has but one note, beginning like the “Bob” and 
cnding like the “ White” of its Eastern relative. The calls of 
