518 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



this is entirely passed. The advent of agriculture has had both a 

 beneficial and a deleterious effect on the quail. The removal of 

 brush has reduced the extent of the natural shelter, but on the other 

 hand the planting of vineyards has provided additional refuge. About 

 Fresno, Tyler (1913&, p. 33) states that with the establishment of 

 vineyards quail came down from their natural foothill haunts and, 

 being protected by most vineyardists, have notably increased in their 

 new haunts ; during the same time their numbers in the adjacent hill 

 country have measurably lessened. 



Quail have established themselves successfully in the parks and 

 suburbs of several of our cities. In Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 

 the California Quail is especially abundant, and coveys may be seen 

 feeding in the open places among the shrubbery or scurrying across 

 the paths. On the campus of the University of California, at Berkeley, 

 flocks are seen down among the buildings at times in winter, and young 

 have been hatched out within a few yards of much traveled paths. 

 In southern California, Willett (1912a, p. 43) says Valley Quail are 

 often seen, and that they nest in parks and gardens in the cities. 



The Valley Quail has a variety of notes which are used under 

 different conditions and to express various meanings. When anxious 

 or disturbed the members of a flock utter a soft pit, pit, pit, or whit, 

 whit, whit, in rapid succession, as they run about under the brush or 

 when about to take wing. Then there is a loud call used by the males 

 to assemble the flock when scattered. This has been variously inter- 

 preted as ca-loi'-o, o-hi'-o, tuck-a-hoe' , k-woik'-uh, ki-ka-kee', ca-ra'-ho, 

 tuck-ke-teu' , or more simply as who-are'-you-ah (Van Dyke, 1908, 

 p. 377; Crosby, 1912, p. 311; Bailey, 1902, p. 120). However, the 

 easiest and by far the most usual interpretation is come-right' -here, 

 or come-right' -home, with the accent on the second syllable. Some- 

 times when excited a bird calls come-right' , come-right', come-right'- 

 here. In at least one instance a female bird has been observed to 

 utter this call (J. W. Mailliard, 1912, p. 73). The notes of the Valley 

 Quail are less elaborate than those of the Desert Quail, the "crow" 

 lacking the two additional notes which the latter gives at the end; 

 also the Valley Quail lacks much of the conversational twitter of its 

 desert relative (J. Mailliard, in Grinnell, 1904a, p. 41). 



During the breeding season the male mounts a bush near his 

 brooding mate and utters a single, loud, far-carrying kayrk at irre- 

 gular intervals of from one to twelve seconds ; an occasional explosive 

 sound is given, like one note of a turkey gobbler. After the eggs are 

 hatched and the young are running with the adults, the pit, pit, pit 

 notes are used to call the chicks together. A feeding flock indulges 

 in some low conversational twitter. 



