136 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 
—more readily than their brethren of the valley. The moun- 
tain partridge hates the quail, and when brought into its pres- 
ence always attacks it; the smaller bird makes no resistance. 
Gambel’s quail (Lorphortyx gambelli) is a bird differing from 
the Californian quail only in having duller colors, and is per- 
haps specifically the same, the difference in color being a mere 
accident of climate. Occasionally, white quails, very similar 
in form and size to the Lophortyx californicus, are found near 
Humboldt Bay. 
The sage-cock, or cock of the plains (Centrocercus urophasi- 
anus), the largest of the American grouse, often weighing five 
or six pounds, inhabits the dry plains in the vicinity of Pit 
River. It is sometimes twenty-nine inches long, and forty-two 
inches across from tip to tip of outstretched wings. Its color 
above is variegated with black, brown, brownish-yellow, and 
whitish-yellow ; its breast is white, its belly black. The male 
has bare, flame-colored patches of skin on the neck, which are 
ordinarily hidden by the feathers, but which are plainly visible 
when he struts about before the hen, with his neck puffed out 
like a pouter pigeon’s. 
The sharp-tailed grouse (Pediocetes phasianellus) is also 
found in the northeastern corner of the state. It is eighteen 
inches long, light brownish-yellow above, varied with black, 
and white beneath, the feathers on the breast and sides having 
brown marks shaped like a V. The tail is long and sharp, the 
central feathers and the others growing gradually shorter as 
they approach the sides; there are eighteen feathers in the 
tail. . 
The dusky grouse (Zetrao obscurus) inhabits the coniferous 
forests of the Sierra Nevada, in the northeastern part of the 
state. The cock, according to common report, is the hand- 
somest of all the American grouse. It is twenty inches long, 
dark-brown above, mottled with lead-color, and lead-color be- 
neath. There are twenty feathers in the tail, which is broadly 
tipped with a light slate-color. 
The band-tailed pigeon (Columba fusciata), the only wild 
