GAME OF CALIFORNIA 



By CHARLES W. HARDMAN. 



HERE are few, if 

 any, of the States of 

 the Union that have 

 such a diversity of 

 game as California. 

 There is, however, 

 one of the game 

 birds dear to all 

 sportsmen found in the East and Middle 

 West that California has not ; the ele- 

 gant and gamy prairie chicken ( Tympa- 

 nuchus americanus). Why this bird 

 does not thrive here I do not know. 

 Many attempts have been made to intro- 

 duce it, but without success. The same 

 may be said of the Eastern quail, the 

 plump and saucy Bob White. The Cali- 

 fornia quail, valley quail as it is called 

 here, is an attractive little creature, not 

 so large and "chesty" as the Bob 

 White, built on somewhat more slender 

 lines and of a faintly bluish tint. Its 

 head is ornamented with a plume-like 

 top-knot of about an inch in length. 

 There is no daintier, pretty bird. All 

 the pictures I have ever seen represent 

 this top-knot as standing upright. As 

 a matter of fact, when the bird is quiet 

 it falls forward over the bill, floating 

 backward during flight- It is capable, 

 however, of erection when excited 



or alarmed. Its call has not the clear- 

 cut, decided tones of the Bob White, 

 and sounds somewhat like the words- 

 "Look out, there; look out, there," in 

 as pure contralto voice as perhaps a 

 bird ever has. 



Any one who has ever hunted this 

 little fellow will bear witness to his 

 gamy qualities. He is, in my opinion, 

 a much more difficult bird to kill than 

 his Eastern cousin. His flight is fully 

 as rapid, and his skill in putting shel- 

 ter between himself and the hunter 

 cannot be excelled. These quails often 

 pass the night in trees, which, I think, 

 the Eastern quail does not. 



When disturbed their flight is some- 

 what startling to the novice. When 

 they alight they often run at right 

 angles to their line of flight. In thick- 

 ly-settled parts of the country they are 

 found in small flocks, often in vine- 

 yards and along streams where there 

 is sufficient cover. In the foot hills, 

 however, they gather in flocks num- 

 bering hundreds, mostly along water 

 courses and near springs. This is true 

 particularly in the Mount Diablo and 

 coast range proper, where large num- 

 bers of them are killed every year by 

 the market hunters, in spite of the law 



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