THE LIVING WORLD. 
367 
handsome creature, of a proud bearing, and his notes are loud, cheery and melo¬ 
dious, sounded most frequently at early morn, though in May and June he joy¬ 
fully pipes his “ bob , bob-white ” from some perch not far distant from the nest 
of his mate, at all hours of the day. 
Quail are so highly esteemed for their flesh that immense numbers are 
destroyed every open season, by shooting and 
trapping, the latter 
being the more de¬ 
structive. Informer 
years I have seen 
many quail-drives, 
by which, during a 
wet or foggy day, 
covey after covey 
were easily driven 
into a net having 
wings stretched out 
several yards and blue quail. California quail. 
converging toward 
a centre, where the enclosure was ample to permit the entrance of a hundred 
or more. When the birds entered the net proper the drivers would rush up, 
drop the netting and then easily secure the captives. 
The California Quail (.Laphortyx californicus ) is found only in the South¬ 
west and west 
of the Rocky 
Mou n tains. 
In his habits 
he does not 
differ essen¬ 
tially from 
the species 
just de¬ 
scribed, but 
his plumage 
is very much 
handsomer, 
though his 
flesh is not 
so palatable. 
His notes are 
clear, though 
not so rich as 
the sunset minuet. the Eastern 
species, bear¬ 
ing some resemblance to “ kuck-kkck-kca-a." He is beautifully clothed in 
rich colors: purplish-blue on the neck, black throat, yellow frontlet, two 
white stripes on the sides of the head, and a delicate crest of three bluish-black 
feathers that may be raised or lowered at pleasure. The other body-markings 
are similar to those which distinguish the Eastern species. 
