154 
THE CALIFORNIAN QUAIL. 
a land which is rich in the wonders as well as beauties of Nature. 
In winter he and his congeners gather in numerous bands, composed, 
according to the localities, of a thousand individuals and upwards. Un- 
like the common quail, he is found as frequently in the forest as in the 
plain. Owing to the speed with which he runs, and the skill with 
which he hides, he is not easy to capture; and when perched on a tree 
is not readily detected, his olive-brown plumage blending easily with 
the later tints of the foliage. 
A writer asserted, some years ago, that the naturalist desirous 
of studying the physiology of the crested quail must make up his 
car-STED QCAILS OF CALIFORNIA. 
mind to abandon the luxuries of an orderly, civilized life, and plunge 
boldly into the California n interior, towards the Rocky Mountains. 
There he will find himself in a district still overrun by the Apaches 
Indians; a district which presents the characteristics we usually asso- 
ciate with the desert. The soil is furrowed by yawning chasms, by 
deep valleys and ravines, which intersect the gigantic mountain-masses; 
and everywhere the eye rests upon huge blocks of lava, ejected in 
prehistoric days from volcanoes which have long since become extinct, 
and even unrecognizable. There are streams; but the traveller might 
perish of thirst while following up their waterless beds; the v^ast plains 
