MEAENS QUAIL. 63 



an abundant and troublesome weed in the South, where it often throt- 

 tles other plants. The following miscellaneous seeds were found 

 among their food : 



Thistle {Carduiis sp.). Borage (Amsiiickia sp.). 

 Wild sunflower (Helianthus annuns). Mallow (Malva rotund if olia). 



Coreopsis (Coreopsis coronaria). Turkey mullein (Crotoii setigerus). 



Aster (Aster sp.). Croton (Croton tcxeiisis). 



Chamomile (Anthemis sp.) . Alfilaria (Erodium cicutarium). 



Pigweed (Amaranthns sp.). Spurge (Euphorltia sp.). 

 Gromwell (Litliospermitm sp. ). 



Grass seeds have not yet been found in quantity in the crop of the 

 species, but panicum seeds have been recognized. 



In summing up the economic status of the scaled quail it should be 

 noted that although the bird is a desert species, it comes into more or 

 less direct relation with agriculture, sometimes feeding upon culti- 

 vated land and about farm, buildings. Moreover, half of its food 

 consists of the seeds of weeds. Lastly, it is highly insectivorous, 

 fully one-fourth of its food consisting of insects. 



MEARNS QUAIL. 



(Cyrtonyx inontezumw mearnsi.a) 



The pervading colors of the male Mearns quail are black, white, 

 and chestnut. Its thick speckles of white and its peculiar shape sug- 

 gest a miniature guinea hen. The species is found on the table-lands 

 of Mexico from the City of Mexico north to western Texas, New Mex- 

 ico, and Arizona, but the bird considered here is limited to the 

 northern part of this range. 



It is a confiding bird and either from excess of curiosity or from 

 stupidity has been known to remain on the ground to be killed by 

 a stick. From this lack of suspicion it has received the name ' fool 

 quail.' It affords the sportsman with a dog much better shooting 

 than its more erratic crested relatives. Grassy or bushy cover is more 

 necessary to this bird than to the scaled quail or Gambel quail. 

 Unlike the latter species, it does not pack, though it is more or less mi- 

 gratory. Its nesting habits are not well known. Bendire describes a 

 nest found in Kinney County, Tex., June 22, 1890. It was placed in 

 a depression of the ground, and contained 10 eggs. 



FOOD HABITS. 



The food habits of the Mearns quail are not well known. The 

 Biological Survey has examined the contents of 9 crops and stom- 



"The typical Massena quail {Cyrtony.v montezumoe) is a bird of the moun- 

 tains about the Mexican table-land, and gives way to the paler Mearns quail 

 (C m. mearnsl) in northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. 



