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U. S. P. R. R. EXP. AND SURVEYS-ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. 
may, however, he overtaken when followed on horseback over the vast open plains where no 
friendly hush offers the weary bird a shelter. When closely chased, if on an elevated point, it 
will sometimes fly, hut always sailing downward. I once saw one captured by a couple of dogs, 
their appetites whetted by recent success in overtaking and bringing down a coyote or prairie 
wolf. Hotly pressed, the bird would gain upon his enemies while sailing down the mountain 
slope, hut taking to his feet on the first ascent, this advantage was again soon lost, and the 
fugitive, worn out, fell at length a victim to their relentless determination. 
The stomachs of the birds I examined were filled with the grasshopper and large black beetles 
found on the plains. The nest, laid on the branches of the cactus, is formed of a few loose sticks 
thrown negligently together in the same manner as that of our yellow-billed cuckoo, (Coccyzus 
americanus .) It contains two large, nearly spherical white eggs. I have not witnessed the 
following feat, hut am assured by many old Californians that this bird, on perceiving the rattle¬ 
snake coiled up asleep, basking in the sun, will collect the cactus and hedge him around with a 
circle, out of which the reptile, unable to escape, and enraged by the priekly points opposing 
him on every side, strikes himself and dies from the effects of his self-inoculated venom. This 
bird is common in western Texas and on the Rio Grande. 
ECTOPISTES CAPtOLINENSIS, Linn .—Carolina Turtle-dove. 
Edopistes carolinensis, DlKay, N. H. of N. Y. part I, p. 197, pi. 74, fig. 166.— Aud. B. of A. Oct. vcl. V, p. 36, pi. 286. 
Columba carolinensis, Nutt. Orn. vol. I, p. 626 .—Wils. Am. Orn. vol. V, p. 1, pi. 41. 
Zenaidura carolinensis, Baip.d, Gen. Rep. IX. 
Abundant. 
CALLIPEPLA CALIFORNICA, Lath.—California Partridge. 
Callipepla californica, Gould’s Odontophorinae. 
Ortyx californica , Aud. B. A. Oct. vol. V, p. 67, pi. 290. 
Ferdrix de la californie, Atlas, Voyage de la Perouse, pi. 36. 
This very numerous and beautiful species is found in California as far south as Vallecita, 
where commences the desert extending to the Colorado, and which forms an impassable harrier 
between it and its closely allied species, Gamhel’s partridge, (Callipepla gambelii.) When 
flushed from the ground it immediately flies to the trees, if in a wooded country, squatting so 
closely lengthwise on a branch that it is rarely seen and procured while thus hidden. It does 
not lay to the dog, but runs until so hotly pursued as to be forced to fly. It is easily tamed, 
and is often domesticated in California with poultry. Two years since, a gentleman having 
imported a large number, attempted to introduce this species on Long Island as a game bird. 
Unfortunately, after the first breeding season, they were all brought by the gunners to the New 
York market. The nest, made in the open field or at the foot of a hush, is composed of loose 
grasses, arranged without much care. The eggs, twelve or sixteen in number, are yellowish or 
grayish white, spotted and dashed with dark brown or burnt umber. 
CALLIPEPLA GAMBELII, Nutt.—Gamhel’s Partridge. 
Callipepla gambelii, Gould’s Odontophorinae.— Cassin’s Ill. B. of Cal. and Tex. p. 45, pi. 9. 
Lophortyx gambelii, Nutt. Proc. A. N. Sc. Phil. vol. I, p. 260.— Baird, Gen. Rep. IX, 645. 
I first discovered this beautiful species in California on the Mohave desert, at the point where 
the Mohave river empties into a large salt lake forming its terminus. The first intimation of 
