NORTE AMERICAN BlRDi^. 167 



The handsome California Partridge or Valley Quail inhabits the lower portions 

 of California and Oregon, where it is very abundant, and also eastward nearly to 

 the Colorado River. It is known also by the name of Helmet Quail. The nest is 

 made on the ground, and is often found in curious places. Mr. Emerson says it is 

 sometimes placed in the garden, within twenty feet of the doorway; he saw eggs of 

 this Quail laid in the nest of chickens that had hidden their nests in the barn-yard, 

 and it is commonly found under hedges, bushes, brush-heaps; even in the grass by 

 the wayside. Mr. Bryant mentions several cases of this bird's nesting in trees upon 

 the end of a broken or decayed limb, or at the intersection of two large branches. 

 One case he cites of a brood being hatched in a vine-covered trellis at the front door 

 of a popular seminary.* Mr. H. R. Taylor, of Alameda, California, records a nest 

 of the Spurred Towhee on the ground in which were 4 eggs of the Towhee and 2 of 

 the California Quail. t The eggs of this species are most beautifully marked on a 

 creamy-white ground with scattered spots and blotches of old gold, and sometimes 

 light drab and chestnut-red. In a large series of specimens sent me by Mr. Arnold 

 Boyle, collected in the vicinity of Banning, California, there is a striking variation 

 in this respect. In some specimens the gold coloring is so pronounced that it 

 strongly suggests to the imagination that this Quail feeds upon the grains of the 

 precious metal which characterizes its home, and that the pigment thereof is im- 

 parted to the eggs. The number laid ranges from eight to twenty-four. In shape 

 they are like those of the Bob-white. Ten selected eggs measure 1.13x.90,1.18x.93, 

 1.19X.93, 1.19X.94, 1.23x.90, 1.27x.96, 1.30X.95, 1.32X.95, 1.33x.97, 1.35X.94. The average 

 size is 1.23X.94. 



294a. VALLEY PABTRIDGE. CalHpepla ailiformca vallicola (Ridgw.) Geog. 

 Dist. — Interior Regions of California and Oregon, south to Cape St. Lucas. 



This variety, which is very similar to the last species, is common to the interior 

 valleys and foot-hills of the Pacific Province. There is essentially no difference be- 

 tween the eggs of this bird and those of C. californica. 



295. CAMPBELL'S PARTRIDGE. CalUpepla onmhelii (Nutt.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Northwestern Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, Southern Utah and Western Texas. 



A characteristic game bird of Arizona and New Mexico; abundant on moun- 

 tains and in valleys. It is found as far east as Western Texas, west to the Colorado 

 River, north to Southern Utah, "in Texas it is replaced by the Massena Quail. Mr. 

 W. E. D. Scott found it distributed throughout the entire Catalina region in Arizona 

 below an altitude of 5,000 feet. Ey the middle of April, on the San Pedro slope of 

 the Catalina mountains most of the birds are paired, and breeding has fairly begun. 

 About Tucson the breeding season begins from three weeks to one month earlier.J 

 This bird is also known as the Arizona Quail. The nest is like that of any other 

 partridge, placed on the ground, sometimes without any lining. The eggs are from 

 eight to sixteen in number and they do not differ from those of the C. californica. 

 The average size of thirty specimens is 1.27x.98. 



296. MASSENA PARTRIDGE. Cyrtoiiyx moiUezumw (Vlg.) Geog. Dist. — 

 Tablelands of Mexico from the City of Mexico north to Western Texas, New Mexico 

 and Arizona. 



In Arizona this bird is known as "Fool Quail" or "Fool Hen." Mr. Scott men- 

 tions finding it common in the evergreen oak region of the Pinal Mountains, near 



• Unusual Nesting; Site.i, I. Bull. Cal. Acad. Scl. 11, 45}. 

 t Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. X, p. 142. 

 + Auk. Vol. Ill, p. 388-389. 



