UPLAND GAME BIRDS 131 



Pacific. It breeds in small numbers at several points 

 in the Coast Range between Santa Cruz and San Diego, 

 laying its two white eggs on the ground near the bank 

 of a pond or river in some localities. In other places 

 it prefers to construct a shallow platform of twigs in a 

 tree or bush. Incubation lasts from fourteen to sixteen 

 days. In shape- the newly hatched young are like minia- 

 ture geese, and their yellow skin is covered with the 

 sparse, cottony, white down. They are fed on a thin 

 milky fluid, by regurgitation, for twenty days. The 

 adult deserts its nest, eggs, or young on the slightest 

 provocation ; it is exceedingly timid, so that any attempt 

 to study its nesting habits, should one be so fortunate as 

 to discover a nest, would prove disastrous to the brood, 

 unless very cautiously done. They are said to have no 

 breeding season in California, but to raise their young 

 during any month except December. From April to 

 September is their usual time. Deep in the recesses of 

 a canon you may come upon a company of these gre- 

 garious birds in the tree-tops. Unless" you see the bird, 

 you will fancy you have discovered a new owl, so hoot- 

 like is their " coo." It has been described as " a short, 

 hard hoot and a long coo." In the large aviary on the 

 grounds of Mrs. Sefton at San Diego, a pair of these 

 pigeons taken at Bear Valley have been kept some time ; 

 their note has become modified, I presume by confine- 

 ment with other birds, for it is much less expulsive and 

 more purring in quality than when heard in the moun- 

 tains. They breed in the aviary, laying their eggs on the 

 .ground behind a bush in one corner and also in com- 



