BOB-WHITES AND QUAILS: GAMBEL QUAIL 
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black face and rufous crown separated by white line, the U-shaped face line outlining 
the black throat; back bluish gray, wing edgings giving effect of white stripes; 
breast gray, belly huffy with black patch; flanks rufous streaked with white. Iris brown, 
bill black, legs and feet greenish gray. Adult female: Similar, but crest only about 
an inch long and plumage without striking markings, belly uniform huffy , white- 
streaked flanks chestnut. Young: Upperparts brownish, minutely mottled, shoulders 
and wing coverts with white shaft streaks and black spots at tip; breast and sides 
pale ashy brown with whitish bars, belly white. 
Range. —Lower Sonoran desert region of southern California, southern Nevada, 
Arizona, southwestern Utah (introduced and thoroughly established in western 
Colorado), and from southwestern New Mexico (taken in northwestern New Mexico 
40 miles southwest of Fort Lewis, Colorado) to the Rio Grande and El Paso region of 
Texas south to Guay mas, Sonora, and the northeastern corner of Lower California. 
State Records. —A rather restricted area in southwestern New Mexico repre¬ 
sents the principal natural range of the Gambel Quail in the State. It is confined 
to the hot valleys and lower slopes, mainly in Lower Sonoran Zone, in valleys of the 
Rio Grande, Mimbres, Gila, and San Francisco Rivers and tributaries of their drain¬ 
age systems; being most abundant in the valley of the Gila up to Cliff and in that 
of the San Francisco to Glenwood, while a smaller number range up the Gila to 
Sapello Creek (Bailey), the mouth of Beaver Creek, 6,400 feet (Ligon), and up the 
San Francisco valley to Joseph (Bailey). [Outside these valleys it occurs in the 
southwestern part of the State—in the Silver City, Cloverdale, and Rodeo sections— 
but only locally and near water (Ligon, 1927, p. 137). It was common, May 9, 
1920, about San Simon and also Silver City (Ligon).] In the valley of the Rio 
Grande it occurs from about 100 miles south of the New Mexico-Texas boundary 
to Belen. It has probably a continuous range connecting the areas along the 
southern foothills of the Mogollon Mountains (Fisher), the Gila (Birdseye), Silver 
City (Marsh and Kellogg), the Mangos Valley (Goldman), the valley of the Mimbres 
and the Rio Grande (Ligon). It is here found occasionally to 7,000 feet altitude. 
Many years ago an effort was made to introduce this species near Fort Union, 
and specimens taken or reported from the upper Rio Grande Valley may be descend¬ 
ants of these introduced birds. Others were transplanted between 1909 and 1911, 
from the southern to the northern and eastern counties where none had been pre¬ 
viously. [In San Juan County, they have become well established on the San 
Juan and its, tributaries. Some that were transplanted to the grounds of the Rio 
Grande Gun Club, about 5 miles south of Albuquerque, are said to have been increas¬ 
ing in numbers for several years (Ligon, 1916-1918) and they have been fairly well 
established on the Rio Grande, west and northwest of Santa Fe.] On his Uracca 
Ranch, George W. Webster, Jr., of Cimarron, introduced them successfully. A 
flock of 20 were seen near Cimarron August 29, 1913, and others reported frequently 
seen along the base of Eagle-tail Mountain; also a flock of seven was seen near 
Koehler Junction, October 24, 1913 (Kalmbach). 
In December, 1915, a “good increase” was noted in the abundance of the species 
in New Mexico, 1915 having been “a banner year” for all the quails of the State. 
Along Cuchillo Creek, west of the Elephant Butte Dam, they were very common. 
[In 1916, they were “well distributed and abundant in the Rio Grande Valley as 
far north as Albuquerque,” but none were found in the Pecos Valley. On the 
east they extended to the San Andres Mountains northeast of Las Cruces. They 
were common in the southwest and north to Aragon and were observed west of 
Reserve in the San Francisco Range to about 6,500 feet. Their greatest abundance 
seemed to be between Elephant Butte and Rincon in the Rio Grande Valley. Several 
bunches and young two weeks old were seen near Cuchillo, July 17, 1916” (Ligon, 
