GAMBEL QUAIL. 57 



fairly well, but as a rule it takes to its legs with all haste and leaves 

 Ihe dog on point, to the vexation of the hunter. It is, however, a 

 useful species, which brightens the desert with its presence and con- 

 tributes a welcome addition to the fare of the traveler. While less 

 valuable than the bobwhite as a destroyer of noxious insects and as 

 an object of sport, this bird well deserves protection for its food 

 value and its beauty. It thrives under desert conditions and might 

 be successfully introduced in the arid regions of Colorado, New 

 texico, and Texas. 



rOOD HABITS. 



Stomachs of 28 birds collected mainly in Arizona and Utah, from 

 January to June, have been examined. Only 0.48 per cent of the 

 food consisted of insects ; the remaining 99.52 per cent was vegetable 

 matter. Like the valley quail, this is one of our least insectivorous 

 birds. Its insect diet includes ants, beetles, grasshoppers, leaf hop- 

 pers {M eTnbracidcc) , and stink bugs {Pentatowhhc). Among the 

 beetles are the western twelve-spotted cucumber beetle (Dialjrotica 

 horor) and D. tenella. The young chicks, hoAvever, will doubtless 

 be found highly insectivorous and therefore useful. 



The vegetable food of Gambel quail was made up as follows: 

 Grain, 3.89 per cent, miscellaneous seeds, 31.89 per cent, and leaves 

 and plant shoots, 63.74 per cent. From the present investigation 

 the bird appears less frugivorous than any of the other American 

 quails, for not one of the 28 stomachs contained fruit. Observers, 

 however, say that the bird is somewhat frugivorous, and no doubt in 

 a country well stocked with berries and fruit it would rapidly 

 develop a frugivorous taste. Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, for 

 instance, state that during summer it makes its home in patches of 

 Solanurn. and feeds on the tolerably palatable fruit, and also that it is 

 known to eat gooseberries." Coues says : " In the fall it gathers 

 cherries and grapes. * * * it visits patches of prickly pear 

 iOpuntia) to feed upon the soft juicy 'Tunas' that are eaten by 

 everything in Arizona, from men and bears to beetles." " 



The grain eaten by the Gambel quail was corn, wheat, and oats. 

 In flocks numbering from 50 to 100, it feeds about grain stacks with 

 domestic poultry. It is even more industrious as a browser on foliage 

 than the valley quail. Succulent foliage and shoots form 63.74 per 

 cent of its food. Much of this comes from alfalfa, bur clover, and 

 the foliage of other legumes. Vernon Bailey, of the Biological Sur- 

 vey, says that at St. Thomas, Ariz., in January, 1889, this quail fairly 

 swarmed on alfalfa fields, feeding on the green leaves and pods. 

 He found flocks of from 25 to 50 in such situations, and during a 



a Birds of Northwest, p. 434, 1874. 6 Hist. N. Am. Birds, III, p. 48.3, 1874. 



