PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 439 



colored, unspotted, and the usual number is about fifteen. This bird is 

 easily shot when not quite grown, and appears to become confused when 

 migrating, especially in fall, when they are inexperienced ; but when 

 grown, and have learned to fear the hunter, they are bagged with diffi- 

 culty. When making their vertical migrations, the Indians catch many of 

 them in compact brush fences about two feet high, running obliquely from 

 a creek or canon over a hill. Occasional holes are left in the fence in which 

 snares of hair or twine are placed. Some of these fences are more than 

 a fourth of a mile long. Many of the birds are taken alive from the 

 snares and sold to the " whites.*' They soon become tame in cages, and 

 could probably be domesticated with little trouble. The Indians claim 

 to distinguish sex by the length of the plume, but I have reasons for 

 doubting their ability to do so. 



A nest found at Big Trees in July, 1878, contained 13 eggs, was built 

 on the ground in a thick growth of " Eock Bose." an evergreen shrub 

 about two feet high, without branches until near the top; leaf very 

 minutely divided. I did not see the nest until the eggs were nearly 

 hatched. 



[Mr. Belding observes in one of his communications that these birds 

 are very fond of the service-berry (fruit of the Amclanchier canadensis). 

 and adds: "Mountain Quail are very plentiful, and easily shut. at Soda 

 Springs, in September and October, and when travelling from one 

 locality to another." — E. E.] 



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Mar. — , 1877 





*158. Lophortyx californica, (Shaw). — CaJifornian Valley Quail. 



This is an abundant constant resident of the valleys and foot-hills. 

 It is also common in summer in the pine forests as high as Big Trees, 

 where, however, it is found only in and around the fields and meadows 

 near human habitations, returning, at the approach of winter, to the 

 chaparral belt. 



In the mating season 1 have seen the males fight fiercely, much as 

 turkeys do, the others of the flock appearing to take a great interest in 

 the combat, in the mean time making a great outcry. In the first of the 

 hunting season they are not very wild, and run a great deal, but when 

 they have been shot at, scattered, persistently followed, and thoroughly 

 frightened, they lie very close, especially if driven from their thickets 

 to stubble-fields and ploughed ground. They do not increase much in 

 the foot-hills after a dry winter. This Quail is attached to certain locali- 

 ties, — drinks, feeds, and hides in its own favorite places. The latest 

 broods are hatched in the early part of September. 



73981 »d. I *Murpby's j Spring, 1877 



