CALIFORNIA QUAIL. 13 



Water crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis) . 1 3 



Miner's lettuce ( Montia perfoliata) 26 



Red maids ( Calandrinia menziesi) 58 



Pigweed ( Chenopodium album) 11 



Rough pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) 77 



Corn spurry (Spergula arvensis) 1 



Common chickweed (Stellaria media) 62 



Field chickweed ( Cerastium arvense) 2 



Sleepy catchfly (Silene antirrhina) 58 



Black bindweed (Polygonum convolvulus) 1 



Dotted smartweed (Polygonum punctatum) 2 



Common knotweed (Polygonum lapathifolium) 2 



Wire grass (Polygonum aviculare) '. 55 



Curly dock (Rumex crispus) 9 



Sorrel (Rumex acetosella) 59 



Sedge ( Carex sp.) 26 



Galingale ( Cyperus sp.) 7 



Rag grass (Lolium perenne) 56 



Soft brome (Bromus hordeaceus) : 3 



Cheat, or chess (Bromus secalinus) 18 



Walk grass (Poa annua) 29 



Timothy (Phleum pratense) 1 



Bear grass (Stipa setigera) 5 



Canary grass (Phalaris caroliniana) 2 



Unidentified seeds, mostly ground up 293 



From this list it would appear that bur thistle, lupines, bur clover, 

 and turkey mullein are the favorite seeds; that the others are not 

 distasteful is shown by the quantities found in some stomachs. For 

 instance, mayweed was identified in only 27 stomachs, yet one stom- 

 ach contained at least 2,000 of these seeds; pigweed (Chenopodium) 

 in but 11, yet one contained 1,000. One stomach held 83 kernels of 

 barley, 592 seeds of geranium, 560 of tarweed, 40 of bur thistle, 48 of 

 clover, 80 of amiaria, 704 of timothy, 32 of catchfly, and 5 of snow- 

 berry, or 2,144 seeds in all. Another contained 1,696 geranium seeds, 

 14 bur thistle, 24 knotweed, 14 tarweed, 38 bur clover, 148 amiaria, 

 12 ray grass, and 1 unknown seed, and a pod of uncertain origin — in 

 all 1,944 seeds and a pod. In both cases the contents of the crop is 

 included with that of the stomach or gizzard. These samples indicate 

 considerable variety in the quail's diet, even in one meal. 



Grass and other forage constitute a little over 25 percent of the 

 quail's annual food. Forage amounts to less than 1 percent in June, 

 remains about the same until October, and increases somewhat in 

 November. In January it becomes important, and it reaches nearly 

 60 percent of the food for the next four months. The maximum, 85 

 percent, occurs in March; but this percentage, based on only one 

 stomach, can not be considered final. Seeds and forage are practically 

 complementary to each other — that is, as one increases the other de- 

 creases. June, which shows the least forage, has the largest percentage 

 of seeds. Leaves of red and of bur clover and of amiaria were the 



