70 



THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



pays for its life every day in the year. The birds are quite local 

 in character; if food is abundant and there are natural hiding 

 places such as the brushy banks along a creek, the flock will stay 

 around day after day 1 in the same region. 



Climate has considerable effect upon the plumage of some of 

 our birds. The song sparrow, for instance, that lives in the moist 

 rainy belt along the Oregon coast is darker in dress and a trifle 

 larger than the song sparrow that lives in the higher, drier zone. 

 The ruffed grouse of western Oregon with its reddish phase of 

 dress is quite different from the gray ruffed grouse of north- 

 eastern Oregon. The same is. true of the pine or red squirrel that 



lives in Oregon. In the series of speci- 

 mens in the collection of the Fish and 

 Game Commission, we find a very 

 interesting gradation of change. The 

 red squirrel from Tillamook is rich 

 dark brown above and underneath 

 the fur has a very marked reddish 

 tone. The same squirrel from the 

 vicinity of Portland and along the 

 Columbia river is lighter on the belly, 

 while in specimens from eastern Ore- 

 gon, especially Wallowa county, the 

 reddish tint underneath is faded out 

 entirely until it is pure white in 

 color. 



Along the Pacific coast, the same 

 kind of a change is traceable in the 

 California Quail. Speaking from a 

 scientific standpoint, there are two 

 quail, the California Quail (Lophor- 

 tyx califomica, named from the 

 Greek, lophos, a crest, and ortyx, a 

 quail) and the Valley Quail (Lo- 

 phortyx califomica vallicola). The 

 former is a native of the humid tran- 

 sition zone from southern Oregon on 

 the west side of the Cascades south to 



