Oct. 2i, i^s4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
B29 
per is sent abroad in exchange for tools, dynamite, 
Italians, Comishmen, denim clothing and beer for the 
miners.’ The workmen get some food, such as it is, as to 
other things they are not captious ; they are notably 
placable and otherwise dormant. The railroad is benefited 
as it chips off something from everything, both going 
and coming. , j 
As I said heretofore, these things may be discerned 
from elevations. 
As our party ascended to the timbered lands, between 
two of the Cow Creeks, we were glad to tumble out of 
the wagon and sleep in the timothy hay at Daly s ra^h. 
Here we were in the edge of the singing conifers. For 
fifteen or twenty miles we would pass through a region 
little afifectd by what my friend Enochs was inclined to 
call improvement, or development. It had not yet be- 
come practical or profitable to shred this forest into 
planks, shingles, toothpicks and matches. No mines had 
been discovered and the habitations of men were few and 
far between. Since then a post office has been estab- 
lished near Daly’s, which implies sawmills and other 
civilizing influences and illusions. 
Jack was as weary and sleepy as the rest of us, and he 
was soon snoring in the hay in a passably aristocratic 
lone, comparatively — after Enochs and Dick got at it. As 
for me, I infer from the fact that I could hear the others 
most of the time, that I do. not snore. 
Nevertheless, it was about lo o’clock the next morning 
when we came out of that bed in the hay. If absolute 
obliviousness is sound sleep, we had had it. If we had a 
haddock we would have had a fish. That last assorti^nt 
of words is a positive instance of verbal debility. Had 
had has affected me so that I have forgotten whatever 
it was that, if I had had it— might have been of service. 
Had had — what a miserable, emaciated combination to 
convey intelligence with. Had had, bedad ! I have known 
it. to occur elsewhere. 
' I say it was lo o’clock, and the sun had been up half an 
hour— high up. Although there was a fine, meadowy 
valley here, that was almost resistless, the sun and the 
heat kept us from exploring it. It stretched away like 
a wide lane of bright green velvet into the deeper greens 
and shadows of the verging forest. Quails were calling 
in their troops of foragers after the mornings raid. 
The gray squirrels were yet barking fussily before be- 
taking themselves to their tall pines for the heat of the 
day. We had discovered deer tracks the evening before 
and we wanted to, but it was too hot. There is altitude 
betw'een. the humid valleys, and the cooler atmosph^e of 
the mountains, where the sun has terrific force, there 
is a midway zone where the atmosphere is free of nmis- 
ture, smoke and humidity, and the thin, pure air offers 
no screen between the celestial fire from the sun and the 
hot surface of the ground. It beats down mercilessly, but 
if there is the shade of a single tree it is a refuge and 
more cooling than a thick roof in the valley. 
Jack, having gained experience in regard to ranches, ., 
was more cautious in -his tours. He was content at Daly s j 
to remain near us,, after scaring a season s growth from a 
dish-faced calf, some cats and two or three of the dogs 
belonging at the ranch. All these animals were mquisi- , 
tive and their curiosity was a little more than satisfied, . 
iudging from their actions. Jack did nothing _ whatevei 
•but sit up or stand and greet his visitors with dignity and 
encouragement, but they were all unaccustomed to high 
life and they shied, made one or two evolutions evincing 
■reticence— and then they went away with unhesitating 
alacrity. The calf went over a few fences, through one ■ 
ior two, and then up a tree, I think; the cats well, the 
cats scattered and then sneaked assiduously, while the 
dogs merely left for the house to tell Dalyt not 
h.im there they struck out for tall timber with such ability 
as they had with them. , r 
Once more we were upon the road and for the first ho 
or two the sun almost cooked us between shades. We 
were still climbine, and in places where the grades were 
steep or rocky Enochs grumbled and spluttered. At such 
times I encouraged him as much as I could, for he did it 
well and was more or less diverting. Besides, he was a 
tenderfoot. Some of his allusions to hot sun,_ the road, 
to Jack and the company generally evinced originality and 
■ genius, but they were not pious enough for my unsullied 
^^°We were all feeling debilitated and partly cooked after 
a few hours, when a track was discerned m the dust 
where a rattlesnake had crossed the road.- Having some 
whisky along for snake bites we immediately stopped, got 
it out and tried it as a preventive at rather long range. 
We escaped the snake track, which I estimated was about 
a week old, but Enochs and Dick both insisted that it 
was not made longer than four or five days, and so we 
took a little more. We escaped the snake, but I soon 
had a terrific . headache. My experience has been that 
whisky or other stimulants are a bad thing to have in 
the sun — very little if any better than snakes. 
Eventually we entered tall, dense timber. It was very 
tall and very dense, seldom penetrated by the sun. it 
was almost equal to a cold cellar, after the hot blaze upon 
the grades. Our wagon now began to wake echoes mat 
clattered away further and further into the forest. Our 
voices were multiplied infinitely, and when 1 rode at a 
little distance from the wagon and we complimented or 
otherwise disparaged each other, Jack or the horses 
echoes sent back such a profusion of sounds that we got 
dizzy ■ of course, the whisky might have contributed, but 
the echoes were the main factor. In some places it was 
no use. When we said anything it was twisted by the 
echoes into idiotic chatter. Some of our observations 
would not stand the transposition very well ; in fact, they 
were bad enough without interference from diagonal 
acoustics. Ransacker. 
[to be continued.] 
Roffed Grouse Vagaries. 
EN Eyre, Pa., Oct. 14 . — Editor Forest and Stream: 
itice in last week’s number the ruffed grouse 
iries. We had a case here early in the month. 
flew through a window, cutting off his head, the 
r striking the opposite wall. The reflection of the 
on the pane probably led him to go through. The 
of game warden or powdered glass did not keep 
from his proper grave, Shohola. 
The Quails of the United States. 
BY SYLVESTER D. JUDD, ASSISTANT, BIOLOGICAL SURVEY. 
(Bureau of Biological Survey— Bulletin No. 26). 
Introduction, 
The quails of the United States, because of their in- 
teresting habits . and marvelous diversity of form and 
color, are a notably, attractive group. All are hand- 
some birds, but the most striking .and beautiful species 
live in the Southwest and on the Pacific coast. Seven 
species occur within our borders, but only one in the 
Eastern States. The others are widely distributed from 
Texas to California and Oregon. _ Their range, was, and 
still is, continuous along the entire southern border of 
the country from the Atlantic to the Pacific; but there 
is an irregular belt along the. northern border and a 
large area in the interior, comprising the Great Plains, 
the northern three-fourths of the Great Basin, and the 
Rocky Mountains, in which they appear to have been 
originally wanting. 
With few exceptions our quails welcome the exten- 
sion of argriculture, and the added food supply in 
farmed areas results in an increase of their numbers. 
This is equally true of the bobwhite of the East, and of 
some of the desert species of the West. So fully does 
the bobwhite appreciate the advantages of the farm that 
its range has increased with the extension of the culti- 
vated area, especially west of the Mississippi. 
The quails, because of their cheerful habits, their 
beauty, and their value as food, are usually welcome on 
the -farm; but their real value to agriculture is not yet 
generally understood- The investigations of the Bio- 
logical Survey show that these birds, with rare ex- 
ceptions, are not only harmless, but that usually they 
are very useful to agriculture. This is particularly true 
of the bobwhite, which constantly feeds on injurious 
weed seeds and insects, and thus renders valuable serv- , 
ice to the farmer. In return for this good service it 
is but fair that these birds should be treated with 
friendly care and interest. 
The well-known bobwhite is the only quail indigenous 
to the Eastern United States, where it ranges from 
southern New England to Florida and Texas; but 
owing to climatic influences the birds of Florida and of 
Texas differ enough to be distinguished as geographic, 
races. Wherever it occurs, however, the bobwhite has 
the same call, and varies but little in habits. A closely 
related bird, the masked bobwhite, inhabited southern 
Arizona until within a few years. Owing to dry sea- 
sons and the overstocking of its home with cattle, this 
bird is now supposed to be extinct within our borders; 
but some probably exist in parts of Sonora, Mexico. 
Although bobwhites are handsome birds, yet they are 
the plainest quail in the United States except the “cot- 
: ton top” or scaled quail of the desert of southern Texas 
and Arizona. The> latter is slaty bluish on the upper 
- parts, which are ornamented with large scale-like mark- 
'ings. and has a whitish 'crest. 
The most bizarre and curious of all is the Mearns 
.' quail of the high, broken plains and mountain slopes 
: of southwestern Texas, southern New Mexico and 
I Arizona. It is short and round bodied, like a little 
' guinea hen, and this superficial likeness is increased by 
brilliant, round, white spots ornamenting the dark sides. 
It is the gentlest of all the quails and is so unsuspicious 
that when a person encounters one it often walks un- 
concernedly about or stands looking curiously at the 
newcomer, when it is not infrequently killed with a 
stick or stone, a characteristic which, among the people 
where it lives, has earned for it the name of “Fool 
Quail.” 
The Gambel quail is a habitant of the southwestern 
desert region where it ranges the- brushy foothills and 
the valleys along water couxsqs.^^ It is a beautiful bird, 
the head handsomely marked and adorned with a jet- 
black recurving crest, and the -flanks bright chestnut, 
brilliantly streaked with white. :This quail, one of the 
most conspicuous and pleasing forrns of desert life, is 
' numerous wherever it can find sufficient food and water. 
For ages it has claimed many a remote watering place 
as its own, but it welcomes" the settler and finds ad- 
ditional shelter and food in his irrigated fields. Under 
the new conditions its numbers increase and it repays 
the favors received by becoming, semi-domesticated. Its 
presence adds a touch of bright color and animation to 
the dreary surroundings of many a lonely desert ranch. 
The California valley quail belongs entirely to the 
Pacific coast, and probably is the most beautiful of the 
smaller gallinaceous birds of the world. It resembles 
the Gambel quail in its recurving black crest and gen- 
eral appearance, but exceeds that bird in the richness 
of its colors and markings. It is abundan in most parts 
of California. 
The California mountain quail, the largest and one of 
the handsomest of this group, inhabits the wooded 
mountains of the Pacific coast, and bears a superficial 
resemblance to the red-legged partridge of Europe. 
Like the Mearns quail, its haunts are usually more re- 
■■ mote from cultivated lands than are those of the other 
species. 
The services to agriculture of the western quails, 
while in most cases appreciable, are far less valuable 
than those of bobwhite, mainly because the birds are 
much less insectivorous. Moreover, the California 
valley quail sometimes damages the grape crop. 
The value of a single game bird is of course small, 
and it is from this narrow point of vie-w that its rela- 
tion to the community is usually considered. When, 
however, the value of any important species is worked 
out the result in surprising. It has been conclusively 
demonstrated that in Virginia and North Carolina 
alone the common quail annually destroys many tons 
of noxious insects and weed seeds. The great value 
of this service must be apparent to all who appreciate 
the never-ending warfare between the farmer and his 
hydra-headed enemies, the insects and weeds. The food 
value also of the quail is great, and the health and 
pleasure derived from their pursuit has resulted in the 
investment of millions of dollars. When it is generally 
understood that by judicious effort the numbers of 
these useful birds may be greatly increased, with a pro- 
portionate benefit to all concerned, it is hoped that 
efforts to this end will not be long delayed. 
The Bobwhite. 
(Colinus virginianus.)* 
The bobwhite is one of the most widely distributed 
and popular game birds of the United States, but in 
many places . it is suffering ruthless extermination. 
Sportsmen, farmers, legislators, and ornithologists, as 
well as the friends of birds in general, should interest 
themselves in the problem of its preservation. . In the 
Northern, Western, and. Middle States it is commonly 
known as “quail,” in. the Southern States as “partridge. 
This tends to confusion, since in New England and 
northern New York the name “partridge” is commonly 
applied to the ruffed grouse. Both names were brought 
to America by English colonists from their Old World 
homes, where they are applied to species not origirially 
inhabiting this continent. The name “bobwhite” is 
from the familiar call note of the bird._ 
In some of its characteristics bobwhite differs strik- 
ingly from other members of the family. For exaniple, 
the crest — a well-developed adornment of several closely 
related American quails — in bobwhite is invisible except 
when the bird is excited. 
The common bobwhite ranges more or less generally 
over the eastern half of the United States and southern. 
Ontario, except in the colder, mountainous parts, from 
southern Maine to northern Florida, and west to South 
Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Texas. In addition, 
colonies have been introduced and found to thrive in 
various localities in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, 
Idaho, California, Oregon, Washington, and the island 
of Jamaica. South of the home of the typical bird, just 
outlined, bobwhites have a wide range, occupying 
Florida, western and southern Texas, Cuba, and a large 
part of Mexico, and extending even beyond the border 
of Guatemala. Owing chiefly to climatic influences the 
southern birds differ more or less from the northern 
ones. The masked bobwhite {Colinus ridgwayi), a 
closely related but separated species, once lived in ex- 
treme southern Arizona and the adjoining part of 
Sonora, but now it is probably extinct within our 
borders. With this exception all of the bobwhites from, 
Canada to Guatemala and Cuba, according to E_. W. 
Nelson, belong to a single species modified by environ^- 
ment into a considerable number of forms, some of 
which are strikingly different from the birds of the 
United States. The Florida bobwhite, which is peculiar 
to the peninsula of Florida, is smaller and darker than 
the northern bird. The Texas bobwhite of western 
Texas and northeastern Mexico is about the same size 
as the northern one, but is paler and has a light rufous 
collar below the black band and bordering the white 
throat patch. The S.alvin bobwhite from the southern 
border of Mexico is very unlike the common bird of the 
United States, most of the head, neck and breast being 
plain black and the rest of the underparts plain rufous. 
The present account is limited to the bobwhites of 
the United States, including the Texas and Florida 
forms. The writer’s field work in this connection has 
been principally in New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland 
._on a farm at Marshall Hall, Md., which is directly 
across the Potomac from Mount Vernon. 
Call Notes. 
In the field the nuptial call note of the cockbird is an 
infallible guide to its identity. This familiar challenge, 
sounding to the sportsman like “bob white,” “bob-bob- 
white,” and to the farmer like “more wet” or “no more 
wet,” is by no means the only note of the species dur- 
ing the breeding season. It was the good fortune of 
the writer during the Hst week of June, 1902, to hear the 
nesting note and other calls. Again and again the 
cock left his distant perch, where he had been whistling 
“bob white,” and, still calling, approached the nest on 
the bank of a little sluggish briery mn between open 
fields. When within fifty yards of his mate he uttered 
the rally note, so thrilling to the sportsman in the fall, 
“ka-loi-kee,” which the hen often answered with a 
single clear whistle. Then followed a series of queer 
-responsive “caterwaulings,” more unbirdlike than those 
of the yellow-breasted chat, suggesting now the call of 
a cat to its kittens,, now scolding of a caged gray 
squirrel, now the alarming notes of a mother grouse 
blended with the strident cry of the guinea hen. As a 
finale sometimes came a loud rasping noise, not unlike 
the effort of a broken-voiced whip-poor-will. The 
favorite calling stations were rail fences at a height from 
5 to 10 feet, and the limbs of trees along fence rows. 
One bird whistled in a tulip tree at least 3S_ feet from 
the ground. H. H. Miller reports that April 25, 1903, 
was- the earliest date Of nuptial notes at Sandy Springs, 
. Md. After the breeding season the bird discontinues 
this characteristic call. During August I9‘2i» 1902, it 
was heard only on one occasion at Marshall Hall, where 
the birds are numerous, and ceased after a dozen repe- 
titions. Edward A. Preble, of the Biological Survey, 
has recorded the “bob-white” call at Wilmington, 
Mass., as late as October 20. 
The notes of the bobwhite in fall and winter have 
been described by many writers. The following quo- 
tation from Mr. Sandys gives an admirable, description 
of the call notes of a covey that has been scattered by 
the sportsman and is trying to reassemble for the night, 
a notation so accurate as instantly to recall the notes 
to one who has heard them,: “Over the brow of a 
hill comes the low, tender call of the hen to her 
youngsters, ‘ka-loi-kee, ka-loi-kee;’ and perhaps, from 
the broomsedge beside the observer comes the loud 
vibrant answer, ‘whoil-kee.’ ” This call is usually 
sounded in the late afternoon, but December 31, 1901, 
at Woodbridge, Va., a scattered flock was heard calling 
persistently in the morning. 
On one occasion the writer watched a bobwhite 
whistling from a fence rail 10 feet away. At such close 
range the whistle lost all its melody and became a nasal 
shriek which was almost painful to the ear._ It was 
repeated on an average five or six times a minute and 
consisted of either two or Jhree_ notes, of which the 
first was so low as to be inaudible a hundred yards 
away, and the last was strikingly louder. The mode of 
*The name is used here in its broad sense to coyer the typical 
bird of the- Eastern States, Colinus virginianus, and the t-wo sub- 
species, the Florida bob -white (C. v. Horidanus) and the Texas 
bpb white (C. v. texanus). 
