56 BOB WHITE AND OTHER QUAILS OF UNITED STATES. 



and 96.6 per cent vegetable matter. Thirty-nine adult birds shot in 

 the same period had eaten almost entirely vegetable food, since only 

 0.6 per cent of animal food appeared in analysis. Had the young 

 birds been collected when newly hatched, undoubtedly a larger pro- 

 portion of insect food would have been found. The 3.4 per cent of 

 insect food mentioned consisted of beetles, 0.1 per cent ; bugs, 0.2 per 

 cent; grasshoppers, 1.3 per cent, and ants, 1.8 per cent. 



The vegetable food of the young is much like that of the adult. 

 In this case it consisted of leguminous seeds, 18.1 per cent; alfilaria 

 seeds, 18.5 per cent; miscellaneous seeds, 54.4 per cent; browse, 6.6 

 per cent ; grain, 0.6 per cent, and miscellaneous vegetable matter, 0.4 

 per cent. 



GAMBEI. QTTAIXi. 



(Lophortyx gainbe}i.) 



[PLATE II.] 



The Gambel quail in general appearance is much like the valley 

 ({uail, but, among other differences, lacks the scalelike feathers of the 

 lower parts and has considerable chestnut along the flanks. It lives in 

 the Lower Sonoran zone, from western Texas to southeastei'n Cali- 

 fornia and from southern Utah and Nevada south through central 

 Sonora, Mexico. The desert is its home, but it is rarely found far 

 from water. Its favorite haunts are patches of bushy vegetation, such 

 as mesquite, mimosa, creosote, and patches of prickly pear. It fre- 

 quently takes up its abode about cultivated land, living in alfalfa 

 fields or nesting in vineyards. 



An interesting account of the habits of the Gambel quail in the 

 Pahrump Valley, Nevada, is given by E. W. Nelson : 



I noticed that when a flock of quail came to feed on grain left by the horses 

 an old male usually mounted the top of a tall bush close by and remained on 

 guard for ten or fifteen minutes ; then, if everything was quiet, he would fly 

 down among his companions. At the first alarm the flock would take to the 

 bushes, running swiftly, or flying when hard pressed. They roosted in the 

 dense bunches of willows and cottonwoods growing along the ditches. * * ' 

 When feeding they have a series of low clucking and cooing notes which are 

 kept up almost continually." 



The love note, according to Coues, may be represented in words as 

 ' killink, killinli.' Nesting takes j)lace in April, sometimes not till 

 May. About a dozen eggs usualh' constitute a clutch. In sections 

 where this quail is still numerous the birds pack in bands of from 1 00 

 to 500 after the breeding season. 



From the sportsman's point of view the Gambel quail as a game 

 bird does not approach the bobwhite. It will sometimes lie to a dog 



a N. A. Fauna, No. 7, pp. 29, 30, 1893. 



