ZOO-OGY—BIRDS. 
61 
their probable vicinity was given by large quantities of their feathers strewed on the ground in 
the neighborhood of some deserted Indian huts. The single flock I met with, however, was so 
wild that it could not be approached. Later I observed them on the Big Lagoon of New river, 
which they had probably reached by following the river banks at the time of the overflow of the 
Colorado. At Fort Yuma they were quite abundant, congregating in large coveys, frequenting 
the thick underwood in the vicinity of the mesquite trees. I found, on dissection, their stomachs 
filled with the mesquite bean, a few grass seeds, and the berry of a parasite plant growing here 
in great quantities, and affording at certain seasons a dainty meal to the deer, who seek it with 
great avidity. On being suddenly flushed these birds separate very widely, but immediately 
upon alighting commence their call note, resembling the soft chirp of a young chicken. This 
note is kept up for some time, each individual fowl seeming to vie with the others in repeating 
it. The alarm past and the flock once more reunited, they relapse into silence, only broken by 
the occasional cluck of the male bird. Once scattered, unless closely marked, they are not 
readily started again, as they hug or lie close in their thick, bushy, and impenetrable coverts. 
Dr. Milhau, U. S. A., then stationed at Fort Yuma, informed me that in spring the Indians 
catch them in snares and bring them in numbers for sale. 
CALL1PEPLA PICTA, Douglass.—-Plumed Partridge. 
Callipepla picta, Gould’s Odontophorinae. 
Orlyx plumifera, (Gould,) Aud. B. of A. Oct. vol. Y, p. 69, pi. 391. 
Known by the miners and hunters of California as the mountain quail, from the localities 
which it prefers. They are wild and difficult to procure, flying and scattering at the least 
symptom of danger, and recalling each other together with a note expressive of great solicitude, 
which much resembles that of the hen turkey gathering her brood around her. During the 
survey I observed them only once, and then hut for a few minutes, as we passed through a deep 
canon leading down to Elizabeth lake. Our hunters saw them on the mountains surrounding 
Tejon valley, but though I went several times in search of them I procured none. 
TETRAO OcSCURUS, Say .—Dusky Grouse. 
Telrao obscurus, Sat, Long’s Ex. to Rky. Mts. vol. II, p. 14.—Bonap. Am. Orn. vol III, p. 27, pi. 18.—Nutt. Orn. 
vol. I, p. 666.— Aud. B of A Oct. vol. Y, p 89, pi. 295.— Baihd, Gen. Rep. 620. 
Abundant in the pine regions of California and Oregon. I have never met with this species, 
though I have often heard of it as one of the game birds most frequently brought into the 
markets of the small mining towns of northern California. 
GALLINULA GALEATA, Licht.—Florida Gallinule. 
Gallinula galeata, Nutt. Orn. vol. II, p. 223.— Bonap. Am. Orn. vol. IV, p. 128, pi. 27, fig. 1. 
Gallinula chloropus, Aud. B. of A. Oct. vol. V, p. 132, pi. 304. 
Found in the marshy valley districts, where it is not a rare bird. I procured several at 
Elizabeth lake, associated with the American coot, ( Fulica americana,) both of which species 
were swimming in search of food among the reeds on its borders. 
FULICA AMERICANA, Gmel.—American Coot. 
Fulica americana , Aud. B. of A. Oct. vol. V, p. 138, pi. 305.— Nutt. Orn. vol. II, p. 229. 
Fulica alra, Wils. Am. Orn. vol. IX, p. 61, pi. 63, fig. 1. 
Plentiful, being found on all the small lakes and ponds which checker the plains of California. 
In the month of December we met with large numbers of these birds on the lakes of Warner’s 
