538 GAME BIRDS OF CALIFOBNIA 



Marks tor field idbntimcation — See under Valley Quail; probably not dis- 

 tinguishable except in hand. 



DISTBIBUTION — Common resident on Santa Catalina Island, Los Angeles 

 County, to which island this race is restricted. 



It has been rumored that quail from tlie mainland of California 

 have been introduced on Santa Catalina Island. But "Captain" 

 James C. Johnston foiind quail already on the island when he located 

 at "Johnston's Harbor" (of maps) in 1859 (Grinnell, 1906a, pp. 

 264-265) ; he and the other sheep men on the island always considered 

 the birds to be native. If mainland stock has since been introduced, 

 we have no means of knowing what its effect on the native contingent 

 may have been. It is unlikely that the strangers would survive in 

 competition with the better fit native birds. The eggs of the Catalina 

 Island Quail have been described (Childs, 1907) as differing some- 

 what from those of other quail in having the ground-color almost pure 

 white, with "specks and dots of brown, and large conspicuous yellow- 

 ish-brown blotches." The eggs described, ten in number, were taken 

 at Avalon, July 12, 1907, from a nest on the "ground near eucalyptus 

 tree and by a fence." 



The general natural history of the Catalina Island Quail is prob- 

 ably nearly identical with that of the Valley Quail. 



Desert Quail 



Lophortyx gambeli Gambel 



Other names — Gambel Quail; Gambel Partridge; Arizona Quail; Callipepla 

 gambeli; Callipepla gamheli deserticola. 



Description — Adult male: Forehead finely streaked with black and buff, this 

 area bounded behind by a transverse white bar between eyes which turns back on 

 each side to continue over the ears to side of neck, this white bar bordered nar- 

 rowly with solid black; whole hind head solid reddish brown; crest with origin 

 just behind white bar on top of head, about one and one-half inches long, and 

 made up of six black club-shaped, recurved, closely over-lapping feathers; entire 

 throat jet black, outlined posteriorly by a well defined U-shaped border of white 

 running down each side of head from eye; ear region, between white bands, black- 

 ish brown, opening out onto gray of chest region; bill black; iris dark brown; 

 upper surface of body, including outer surface of closed wing, rump and entire 

 tail, pale ashy brown, becoming clear gray on hind neck and tail; upper surface 

 also with fine shaft-lines of dusky ; lining and under surface of wing plain grayish 

 brown; inner webs of tertials and outer webs of secondaries edged with buft'y 

 white ; outer webs of primaries edged with gray ; elongated feathers of sides 

 bright chestnut, each wdth a medial streak of White; fore breast ashy gray con- 

 tinuous with hind neclt; feathers of sides of neck and hind neck finely margined 

 with dusky and narrowly centered near tips with reddish brown; a black patch 

 or spot on fore part of belly, and between this and gray chest area, a broad, 

 clear, biiffy band ; hinder belly pale buffy white ; flanks same color, with broad 

 shaft streaks of dull reddish brown; under tail coverts buff with grayish browoi 

 shaft streaks; legs and feet dull gi'eenish gi-ay; claws black. Total length 10.64- 



