The Valley Quails 



with white and finely ribbed and bordered with black, changing on upper back to clear 

 olive-brown (Prout's brown to mummy-brown) of remaining upperparts; the inner webs 

 of tertials ochraceous buffy or tawny, forming conspicuous stripes; sides the color of 

 back, sharply striped with creamy white; lower breast, broadly, light ochraceous buff; 

 upper belly centrally bright chestnut, on sides white, the three areas last mentioned 

 presenting a handsomely scaled appearance, by reason of sharply-defined, curved, 

 black borders; flanks, shanks, and crissum ochraceous buffy striped with dark brown; 

 the lower belly dull buffy finely crossed by dusky. Bill blackish above, lighter below; 

 feet and tarsi brownish dusky. Adult female : Somewhat similar to male, but without 

 characteristic head markings, mottled olive-gray and white instead, on sides of head 

 and throat; entire crown olive-brown; breast color of back; underparts without chestnut 

 or central ochraceous, white instead — the borders of the scales brownish black; the 

 crest somewhat reduced, olive-brown. Bill dull horn-color above, yellowish below. 

 Near adult male: Throat dull gray progressively invaded by black; lower breast, cen- 

 trally, finely buffy-and-dusky-striped, the advance and intensity of chestnut marking 

 increasing age; above traces of wood-brown mottling on wings, and especially on ter- 

 tials. Chick: Below whitish; above mottled buffy, brownish, and dusky; a brownish 

 patch on crown and nape, foreshadowing that of adult. Chicks a week or more old are 

 a highly variegated patchwork of woody browns, buffies, and duskies, more suggestive 

 of an adult Sharp-tailed Grouse than of the plain-backed Quails. Av. of 10 adult 

 males: length 245.7 (9-67); wing 109.6 (4.31); tail 80 (3.15); bill 11. 1 (.44); tarsus 

 33.6 (1.32). 



Recognition Marks. — Robin size; dense recurved crest; black throat of male; 

 scaled appearance of belly and darker coloration distinguishes from L. gambeli; weight 

 decidedly less than that of Mountain Quail. 



Nesting. — Nest: A hollow in ground, lined carelessly with dead leaves or grasses 

 and a few feathers, placed in shelter of weeds, thick grasses, fence-corner, logs, or pro- 

 jecting rocks, or, rarely, built up on brush-pile, top of stump, or even side of haystack. 

 Eggs: 6 to 22, or more, usually 10 to 15; short-ovate, pointed, ivory-yellow or cream- 

 color, finely and rather uniformly sprinkled, or coarsely spotted, or even blotched, with 

 "golden brown" (dresden brown to mummy-brown or Prout's brown). Av. size 

 31.6 x 24.1 (1.24 x .95); index 76.6. Season: May-June 15 (July-Sept. 15 of record); 

 one or two broods. 



Range of Lophortyx californica. — Pacific Coast states and Lower California. 



Range of L. c. californica. — Humid coast strip from southwestern Oregon to 

 southern Monterey County; introduced into western Washington, Vancouver Island, 

 and Colorado. 



Distribution in California. — As above. 



Authorities. — Shaw (Tetrao calif ornicus) , Naturalists' Miscellany, vol. ix., 

 1798, p. 345 (California); Hoover, Bull. Cooper Orn. Club, I, 1899, p. 75 (destruction of 

 quail eggs by snakes) ; Beal, U. S. Dept. Agric, Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 34, 1910, p. 9, 

 pi. 1 (food). 



No. 313a Valley Quail 



A. O. U. No. 294a. Lophortyx californica vallicola (Ridgway). 

 Synonyms. — Southern Valley Quail. Topknot Quail. 

 Description. — Similar to L. californica californica, but paler and grayer, the 

 slaty gray prevailing over olive-brown on back and wings (either entirely displacing it 



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