267 
early May, and by the last of June large numbers of tlie young are out and able even 
to fly short distances. The time, however, for nesting must be quite variable, or else 
the great disparity in the ages of the broods is due to the fact that the later nestlings 
are the product of a second clutch of eggs, the first having perhaps been destroyed. 
Thus, though I have seen many young able to fly iu the month of June, I have found 
others of about the same size and age late in August. Two broods may occasionally be 
reared in a season. 
As soon as the young are out, it is usual for several broods to unite together, and in 
this way it is not unusual to find in one company birds representing several progres¬ 
sive stages of plumage, and more or less advanced toward maturity. Within tlie 
limits of its range, this Quail affects almost all situations. Often during the day, the 
bands will be found in the vicinity of water, the nature of their food requiring much 
to soften and aid iu its digestion. The bushy pastures, grain fields, and the foot-hills, 
ail in turn invite attention, and are visited by the busy flocks that thus spend the 
greater part of the day in a constant search for food. Whether it is a constant habit 
with them to seek shelter during the hottest part of tlie day, I do not know ; but I have 
often found the bevies about noon in the shade of the bushes that fringe the margin of 
some favorite spring, where they have come to slake their thirst and apparently pass 
the heated hours of day in shady seclusion. This I think is a fixed habit with them. 
Iu October and November, the young birds are fall-grown, and as strong on the wing 
as their parents. 
They now gather into very large bevies, or rather an assemblage of bevies, sometimes 
a hundred or more, though the average would be less than this. As a rule, their ways 
are not such as to endear them to the sportsman ; for they are apt to be wary, and, un¬ 
less under specially favorable circumstances, are not wont to lie closely. I have, how¬ 
ever, flushed a large bevy contiguous to a bushy pasture where the scrub was about 
knee-deep, with cattle-paths through it, and have had glorious sport. The birds lay 
so close as to enable me to walk almost over them, when they got up by twos and 
threes, and went off in fine style. The sportsman may now and then stumble upon 
such chances, but they do not come often. A bevy once up, off they go, scattering but 
little unless badly scared, the main body keeping well together, and having flown a 
safe distance they drop, but not to hide and be flushed one after another at the leisure 
of the sportsman. The moment their feet touch firm ground, off they go like frightened 
deer, and if, as is often the case, they have been flushed near some rocky hill, they 
will pause not a moment till they have gained its steep sides, up w T hick it would bo 
worse than useless to follow. Should they, however, be put up hard by trees, they will 
dive in among the foliage and hide, and there standing perfectly motionless will some¬ 
times permit one to approach to the foot of the tree they are lodged in ere taking wing. 
They roost always in bushes or trees, and almost invariably in those which are hard 
by water, which they resort to in the early morning ere setting forth on the business 
of the day. 
When anxious and disturbed, the members of the flock call to each other iu quer ulous 
tones, the notes resembling the syllable pit,pit', constantly repeated ; this, too, just as 
they are taking to wing. Besides this, the males have a loud call, which answers, when 
the band has been dispersed, to bring them together. Thi s lias been variously inter¬ 
preted. It resembles perhaps as much as anything, when put into English, the words 
come-right-here , the last syllable lengthened and much emphasized. 
No. 
Sex. 
Locality. 
Date. 
Collector. 
83 
92 
cf ad. 
cf ad. 
$ ad. 
$ ad. 
cf ad. 
$ ad. 
cf ad. 
H* 
Santa, "Barbara,, Cal._. 
Juno 26 
TT. W. Uensliaw. 
.do.. 
•Tune 26 
Do. 
93 
.do.. 
June 26 
Do. 
94 
tie 
do .... 
June 27 
Do. 
_do. 
June 28 
Do. 
117 
.... do ..... 
June 28 
Do. 
253 
254 
"Fort, T'pjnn Ca l ...... 
July 
July 
Aug. 
26 
Do. 
.. do . 
26 
Do. 
278 
juu. 
cf ad. 
cf ad. 
0 
_do ........... 
2 
Do. 
578 
579 
Near Nernville, Ca,l .........__ 
Oct. 
19 
Do. 
.do . 
Oct. 
19 
Do. 
580 
580 A 
_. do .... 
Oct. 
19 
Do. 
+ 
Q 
..do . 
Oct. 
19 
Do. 
581 
+ 
2 
.do. 
Oct. 
20 
Do. 
581 A 
0 
.do . 
Oct. 
19 
Do. 
587 
0 
.do. 
Oct. 
20 
Do. 
588 
.do... .... 
Oct. 
23 
Do. 
589 
653 
cf ad. 
cf ad. 
cf 
cf 
jun. 
jun. 
.do ...-. 
Oct. 
23 
Do. 
Walker’s Basin Cal... 
Nov. 
5 
Do. 
654 
_do ... 
Nov. 
5 
Do. 
716 
725 
_. do . _ ... 
Nov. 
5 
Do- 
Fort Tejon Cal 
July 
July 
26 
Do. 
726 
_do.. 
26 
Do. 
