528 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFORNIA 



his observation containing more than one type of egg and therefore 

 believed to be laid by more than one female. 



Table 17— Sets of Valley Quail Eggs Showing More than One Type of Coloration 



(All Observed by C. 8. Sharp at Escondido, San Diego County). 

 The Numbers Eefer to Sets in Table 16 



Remarks 

 Two types: 10 and 5 eggs respectively. 

 Three types: 10, 4 and 2; and 1 which probably should go 



with the 4-egg type. 

 Three types: 8, 3 and 2. 

 Three types: 8, 5 and 4. 

 Two types: 5 and 3. 

 Two types: 10 and 3. 

 Three types: 8, 5 and 4; and 1 which probably should be 



added to the 4-egg type. 

 41 9 Two types: 5 and 4. 



In the early spring, quail often drop eggs at various places any- 

 where on the ground. Tyler (19136, pp. 33-34) and Van Denburgh 

 (1899, p. 158) both record the finding of eggs dropped in this man- 

 ner; and the latter author states that the same propensity was 

 noticed in captive quail. Van Denburgh states further that one of 

 the birds kept in captivity by him laid forty-one eggs during one 

 summer, and Cooper (1870a, p. 551) mentions a female kept in 

 captivity in San Francisco which laid seventy-nine eggs in one sum- 

 mer season. This bird was provided with an abundance of food and 

 was not allowed to sit. 



The statement which is frequently made, that our quail do not 

 nest numerously or even at all in dry years, seems to be fairly well 

 substantiated. Anthony {in Bendire, 1892, p. 27) says that he was 

 told of this phenomenon by the Indians and Mexicans, and that in 

 1887 he verified it by personal observation. In that year the birds 

 remained in large flocks all summer, and only two or three broods 

 of young were noticed. Birds collected during April, May and June 

 showed little development of the sex organs. Cummins (1888, p. 51) 

 states that in 1887 a flock of about one hundred quail remained 

 together on the slopes of Mount Diablo and did not nest. Joseph 

 Dixon (MS) states that he has collected quail for specimens in San 

 Diego County during the summer season of dry years and that upon 

 dissection the sex organs were found to be in a non-functional con- 

 dition. As evidence from the opposite direction, W. M. Pierce (MS) 

 declares that sets in 1916 in Los Angeles County, following a winter 

 of heavy rainfall, have been exceptionally large, nine sets averaging 

 between 16 and 17 eggs each. Other persons have also referred to 



