May, 1893.] 



BIEDS OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 



29 



have killed 8,400 quail at a solitary spring in the Temploa Moun- 

 tains. The men built a brush blind near the spring, which was the 

 only water within a distance of 20 miles, and as evening approached 

 the quails came to it by thousands. One of Mr. Nelson's informants 

 who saw the birds at this place stated that the ground all about the 

 water was covered by a compact body of quails, so that the hunters 

 mowed them down by the score at every discharge. The species was 

 common along the coast from San Simeon to Carpenteria and Santa 

 Paula, in November and December. 



Record of specimens collected of Callipepla californica vallicola. 



Col- 





lector's 



Sex. 



No. 





16 



d ad. 



65 



9 





? 



140 



S 





d 





2 





? juv. 





d 





d 



185 



d 



244 



d 



245 



? 





JUV. 



72 



d juv. 



357 



$ juv. 



358 



d juv. 



359 



? juv. 



376 



$ juv. 



377 



d juv. 



404 



d ina. 



Locality. 



Date. 



Cajon Pass, Calif 



Lone Willow Spring, Calif . 



Panamint Mountains, Calif 



do 



do 



do 



Argus Range, Calif 



do 



do 



Coso Mountains, Calif 



do 



Inyo Mountains, Calif 



Owens Lake, Calif 



Walker Pass, Calif 



do 



do 



Kern River, Calif 



do 



Three Rivers, Calif 



Jan. 1, 

 Jan. 16, 

 Jan. 17, 

 Mar. 26, 

 Apr. 19, 

 ....do.. 

 June 13, 

 Jan. 2, 

 ....do-. 

 Api. 27, 

 May 21, 

 ....'do -. 

 July 1, 

 1 June 3, 

 ! July 1, 



L.io.: 



I. ...do.. 



July 5, 



!....do.. 



I July 28, 



1891 

 1S91 

 1891 

 1891 

 1891 



1891 

 1891 



1891 

 1891 



18!)1 

 1891 

 1891 



1891 

 1891 



Collector. 



A. K. Fisher . 



...do 



E. W. Nelson 

 A. K. Fisher . 

 E. W. Nelson 



...do 



...do 



V.Bailey 



...do..: 



A. K. Fisher . 



...do 



....do 



E. W. Nelson 



F. Stephens.. 

 A.K.Fisher. 



....do 



...do 



....do 



....do 



do 



Remarks. 



Johnson Cation. 

 Surprise Canon. 

 I)o. 



Shepherd Canon. 



1)0. 



Do. 



South Fork. 



Callipepla garnbeli. Gambel's Quail. 



Gambel's quail is essentially a desert bird, though rarely found at any 

 great distance from water. It was first observed in winter by our party 

 at Furnace Creek, in Death Valley, where it was reported to have been 

 introduced by the Borax Company from Eesting Springs. A few young 

 were seen here June 19-21 by Mr. Bailey and the writer, and a female 

 shot .for a specimen had an egg in the lower part of the oviduct. At 

 Besting Springs, California, which is in the Amargosa Valley, it was ex- 

 cessively abundant in February and furnished considerable food for the 

 party. It was so common among the mesquite and other brush that steel 

 traps set for diurnal mammals were often sprung by it, and in a few in- 

 stances quail were found in traps set in pouched gopher holes. A few 

 were seen at Ash Meadows, Nevada, in March. At the ranch in Pahrump 

 Valley, Nevada, it was fully as abundant as at Besting Springs and was 

 considered a great nuisance by the j>roprietor of the place, owing to the 

 damage it does to the crops. Mr. Nelson, who was alone in camp for 

 several days in this locality, gives the following notes on its habits: 

 "I noticed that when a flock of quail came to feed on grain left by the 

 horses, an old male usually mounted the top of a tall bush close by and 

 remained on guard for ten or fifteen minutes, then, if everything was 



