52 BOBWHITE AND OTHER QUAILS OF UNITED STATKS. 



In its habit of feeding on foliage the California quail differs from 

 the bobwhite and resembles the ruffed grouse. Such food forms 22.73 

 per cent of the vegetable matter eaten. In February, when the bob- 

 white is weathering blizzards, the California quail is enjoying balmy ^ 

 weather and feeding on browse to the extent of 80 per cent of its food. 

 Most of this browse consists of leaves of leguminous plants, princi- 

 pally clovers. Bur clover {Medicago denticulata) , a weed that 

 grows in cultivated land and along irrigation ditches, appears to sup- 

 ply most of the forage. Alfalfa and clovers of the genus alfalfa 

 form most of the remaining leguminous green food. Next to legumes 

 the finely divided leaves of alfilaria, or ' filaree ' (Erodium) , are im- 

 portant. Grass, chickweed {Alsine media), the leaves of fern, 

 geranium, oxalis, and groundsel-bush {Baccharis) also furnish forage 

 for the quail. W. W. Cooke reports that near Grand Junction, 

 Colo., where the California coast quail has been introduced and 

 thrives wonderfully, market gardeners regard it as a nuisance." 



WEED SEEDS. 



Different seeds, largely of weeds, furnish the California quail 59.77 

 per cent of its year's diet. Legumes contribute 17.87 per cent; alfi- 

 laria, 13.38 per cent; compositse, .5.55 per cent; the spurge family 

 {Euphorhiacece), 5.85 per cent, and miscellaneous plants 17.12 per 

 cent. Leguminous seeds are liked best by the bird, and make up 

 17.87 per cent of the seed diet for the year and 46.1 per cent of its 

 food for June. Bur clover yields abundance of seeds as well as 

 forage. Its seed pod is peculiar, much elongated, beset with long, 

 sharp spines, and spirally coiled into a roundish bur. The quail 

 swallows it whole, regardless of spines. This food is highly nutri- 

 tious and is relished by stock as well as by birds and wild mammals. 

 Seeds of closely allied plants, such as alfalfa, vetch, cassias, culti- 

 vated beans and peas, and clovers of the genera TrifoUum, Lespedeza, 

 and Melilotus also are in the quail's list, as well as of locust (Eohinia) 

 and lupines, the latter taken in large quantities. They include the 

 seeds of Lupinus nanus, L. micranthus, and L. sparsiflorus. Other 

 leguminous seeds are eaten in great numbers, including a small bean- 

 like seed, Lotus glaber, which looks much like a miniature Frankfurt 

 sausage, and an unidentified, almost microscopic square seed, with a 

 notch in its edge, possibly some species of birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus). 

 Nearly all of the leguminous plants that furnish the quail with seeds 

 belong in the category of weeds. 



Seeds of weeds from other families of plants make up no less than 



" Birds of Colorado, App. 2, p. 202, 1900. 



