UPLAND GAME BIRDS 



119 



it offers a difficult mark for the true sportsman, and is 

 less in danger from him than from the pitiless trapper. 



It differs from the valley partridge in being darker- 

 colored and of a more northern range, but is often mis- 

 taken for it, as the habits and call are exactly alike. It 

 is quite unlike the mountain partridge, — an inch smaller, 

 and % with more of a blue tinge to the slate-color of 

 the fj'i plumage. Moreover the crest is shorter and tips 



forward like a pompon, 

 while the mountain 

 partridge usually car- 

 ries his long 

 crest float- 

 ing backward. 

 Unlike the nest of the 

 mountain partridge, too, 

 the nest of californicus is 

 rarely concealed, the eggs 

 being laid on a mat of leaves or grass on the open ground 

 beside a stump or under a bush, and they are sometimes 

 found in the nest of the Oregon towhee. Doubtless the 

 protective coloring helps to prevent their discovery dur- 

 ing the three weeks required for incubation. In this 

 task, unlike our Eastern "Bob White," the male does 

 not assist, but frequently stands guard at a short distance 

 and warns of danger by a sharp short call. The chicks 

 are out of the nest almost as soon as out of the shell, 

 and are as skilful as their parents at running to cover. 

 When a day or two old they learn to find their own food, 

 picking up the bugs and even jumping for them when 



294. California Partridge. 

 " It haunts the caUons and stopes." 



