July, 1912 NOTES ON WxlDING BIRDS OF BARR LAKE REGION, COLORADO 
131 
the nest in a single instance. For the most part they remained at a distance call- 
ing loudly, and only in one instance did I see a parent simulate a broken wing to 
lure the intruder away from the nest. 
We found one brood of four young which had just hatched and had not left 
the nest. They are beautiful little striped creatures, and become very quick and 
active almost as soon as they are dry. They run with surprising speed, and the 
note even of the tiniest chicks is the exact counterpart of the parent’s note, on a 
smaller scale. The nests, if they could be called such, showed little variation 
except as to location, but we found them equally common in damp marshy loca- 
tions (although in all such cases the nesting sites were perfectly dry) and out 
amid the cactus and rabbit brush of the dry prairie. 
The parent of one nest which we had under observation died upon her nest 
and during the week between our visits, a colony of Burying Beetles buried eggs 
and parent until only the tip of the tail and one wing showed above the surface 
of the ground. 
The birds began to gather in flocks the last week in July but did not depart 
for the south until late in October. 
THE PRESENT AND FUTURE STATUS OF THE CALIFORNIA 
VALLEY QUAIL 
By HAROLD C. BRYANT 
Fellow in Applied Zoology on the Fish and Game Commission Foundation in the University 
of California 
WUTH MAP AND DIAGRAM 
D uring the past year several circulars have been issued by the Bureau 
of Biological Survey of the Lhiited States Department of Agriculture 
calling attention to the fact that certain of our native birds, and espe- 
cially the game birds, appear to be diminishing in numbers. In the annual re- 
port of the Chief of the Biological Survey for 1911 this statement is made: “The 
cjiiail and prairie chicken are favorite and legitimate objects of pursuit by sports- 
men, but they have been so ruthlessly pursued that they are now generally 
scarce and in many localities practically extinct.” 
With the present agitation in regard to the conservation of our national 
resources, it naturally follows that sportsmen as well as others are becoming 
deeply interested in the conservation of game. California has been so well 
supplied with game that she has been rather slow to wake up to the fact that 
she must needs look to the future in this regard. The past two decades have 
seen the practical extinction of such big game as the grizzly bear, elk, and prong- 
horn antelope. Sharp-tailed grouse have not been seen in the state for many 
years, and the grouse and sage-hen have been greatly reduced in numbers in 
many parts of the state. 
In line with this rise of interest in game conservation has followed much 
discussion as to the present status of the California valley quail. The general 
opinion is that these birds have greatly decreased in numbers. It is the pur- 
pose of this paper to present what knowledge we have as to the present status 
of this quail in California, to discuss the factors governing the increase or 
