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Genus OREORTYX, Baird
Oreortyx, Baird, Birds of N. Am. 1858. (Type, Ortyx picta, Douglas.)
Gen. Char. Body stout, broad; bill large; a crest of two or three much elongated linear feathers, springing from the middle of the vertex; tail short, broad, scarcely more than half the wing, rounded, the longest feathers not much exceeding the coverts. Legs developed, the claws extending beyond the tip of the tail; the lateral toes short, the outer claw falling considerably short of the base of the middle. Very similar to Ortyx, except in the crest. Sexes similar.
Oreortyx pictus, Baird
PLUMED PARTRIDGE; MOUNTAIN QUAIL
Ortyx picta, Douglas, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 143. Callipepla picta, Gould, Mon. Odont. pl. xv.—Newberry, Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857, 93.—Heerm. X, s. 61. Ortyx plumifera, Gould, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. V, 1837, 42.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 200.—Ib. Birds Amer. V. 1842, 69, pl. ccxci. Perdix plumifera, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 220, pl. ccccxxii. Lophortyx plumifera, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 791. Oreortyx pictus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 642.—Cooper & Suckley, 225.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 546.
Sp. Char. Head with a crest of two straight feathers, much longer than the bill and head. Anterior half of the body grayish-plumbeous; the upper parts generally olivaceous-brown with a slight shade of rufous, this extending narrowly along the nape to the crest. Head beneath the eyes and throat orange-chestnut, bordered along the orbits and a short distance behind by black, bounded anteriorly and superiorly by white, of which color is a short line behind the eye. Posterior half of the body beneath white; a large central patch anteriorly (bifurcating behind), with the flanks and tibial feathers, orange chestnut-brown; the sides of body showing black and white bands, the former color tinged with chestnut. Under tail-coverts black, streaked with orange-chestnut. Upper tertials margined internally with whitish. Female differing only in slightly shorter crest. Length, 10.50; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.25. Juv. Body, generally, pale brown, the feathers of the upper parts minutely barred with darker, and with medial shaft-streaks of blackish; lower plumage plain brown. Breast clear ashy, presenting a well-defined area. Head pale brown, similar to, but lighter than, the body, with a conspicuous vertical and lateral (auricular) broad stripe of dark umber-brown. Feathers of the flanks blackish, broadly bordered with dingy whitish. A short truncated tuft of hair-like feathers on the crown. (Described from figures in Grayson’s plate.)
Hab. Mountain-ranges of California and Oregon towards the coast. Nevada (eastern slope and foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada; Ridgway).
3935 ♂
Oreortyx pictus.
There are two quite different races of this species, but which, however, pass gradually into each other, and must be considered as merely the extremes of one species. They may be defined as follows:—
1. Var. pictus. Pure ash confined to the pectoral region; the russet-brown or rusty-olivaceous of the upper parts covering whole neck and crown; forehead entirely ashy. ♂. Wing, 5.25; tarsus shorter than middle toe (1.27; middle toe, 1.30). Hab. Washington Territory, Oregon, and upper coast region of California.
2. Var. plumiferus. Pure ash covering whole pectoral region, and crown, nape, and upper part of back; the grayish-olivaceous above confined to the posterior parts. Forehead distinctly whitish. Wing, 5.25; tarsus longer than middle toe (1.27; middle toe, 1.25). Hab. Sierra Nevada, and Southern California to Cape St. Lucas.
Habits. The Mountain Quail of California is said by Dr. Newberry to be similar in some respects to the common Partridge of Europe. It is nowhere very common, but occurs sparingly throughout the entire length of California and Oregon to at least the Columbia, and probably beyond it, having much the same range with the californicus, though everywhere a rarer bird, and always confined to the hills and mountains. Its habits are similar to those of the other species of this family, but it is less gregarious, and is more shy. It is usually found in the chaparral, where it is put up with difficulty, as it seeks safety by running on the ground rather than by flight. On the first of August, at the base of Lassen’s Butte, Dr. Newberry found a solitary hen with a brood of very young chicks. The brood scattered like young Partridges, uttering a piping note like that of young chickens, and when all was still again were recalled by the mother with a cluck, much like the call of the common Hen. The party frequently saw coveys and broods of these birds, the young of which were about half grown, until they reached the plains of Pit River. None were seen in the Klamath Lake basin, the country being too bare and flat. They were again met with among the hills bordering the Willamette Valley, and were found from the Columbia, almost uninterruptedly through the Siskiyou, Calapooza, and Trinity Mountains to California. They are favorite pets with the miners, by whom they are frequently kept in confinement, and not unfrequently command a high price. Their flesh is said to be white and excellent, and fully equal to that of any of the family.
Oreortyx pictus.
According to Dr. Cooper, this Quail is very rare in Washington Territory, a few small coveys having been met with about Vancouver, as he was informed by the officers in the garrison. He never succeeded in finding any, though he hunted for them several times with a dog. They became quite common south of the Columbia, towards the prairies of the Willamette. He inquired especially for them in other parts of the Territory, but never heard of them. In California, south of San Francisco, this bird is said to be a rare curiosity to the market-hunters, one or two sometimes occurring among flocks of the California Quail. It is known to them as the Mountain Quail. Dr. Suckley states that the birds in the Willamette Valley were introduced there, and that they are now multiplying rapidly upon the prairies back of Fort Vancouver. With a very little care it is thought the whole of the Territory may become well stocked with them, as the absence of foxes west of the Cascade Mountains and the mild open winters are favorable for their increase.
Dr. Heermann found the birds of this species wild and difficult to procure, flying and scattering at the least symptom of danger, and again calling each other together with a note expressive of great solicitude, much resembling that of a Hen-Turkey gathering her brood around her. During the survey he observed these birds only once, and then but for a few minutes, as they were passing through a deep cañon leading down to Elizabeth Lake. They were seen by the hunters on the mountains surrounding Tejon Valley; but though he went several times in search of them, he obtained none.
Mr. Ridgway met with the Mountain Quail on the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, in the vicinity of Genoa and Carson City, and also in the mountain-ranges lying immediately to the eastward of the Sierra. It was quite rare and very difficult to discover, and when found was generally met with accidentally. He obtained it in November in the thick chaparral at the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada. In May he secured a pair in the cedar woods a little to the eastward of Carson City, and in December a flock was met with on the Comstock Mountains near Pyramid Lake. Its call-note when a flock is scattered is almost exactly like that of a Hen-Turkey, only proportionally weaker. When a flock is startled, they utter a confused chuckling note, something like that of the common eastern Quail. The male has a very pleasant crowing-note, which sounds some like koo-koo-koóe. The settlers in Nevada say that, previous to the settlement of that country by the whites, this Quail was not found east of the Sierra Nevada, and affirm that they followed the wagon-roads over the mountains, in the rear of trains and wagons, for the purpose of picking up the grain scattered along the road. Mr. Ridgway does not give full credit to the truth of these statements, as he was informed by the Indians at Pyramid Lake, that, within the memory of the oldest members of their tribe, it had always been found in that vicinity.
An egg of this species taken by Dr. Canfield, near Monterey, California, measures 1.45 inches in length by 1.10 in breadth. It is oval in shape; one end is considerably more pointed than the other. It is of a very rich cream-color, with a reddish shading, and unspotted.
9390 ♂
Lophortyx californicus.
Genus LOPHORTYX, Bonaparte
Lophortyx, Bonap. Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. (Type, Tetrao californicus, Shaw.)
Gen. Char. Head with a crest of lengthened feathers springing from the vertex, the shafts in the same vertical plane, and the webs roof-shaped and overlapping each other; the number varies from two to six or more; they widen to the tip, where they are slightly recurved. Tail lengthened and graduated, nearly as long as the wing, composed of twelve stiff feathers. Wings with the tertials not as long as the primaries; the coverts without any unusual development. Claws rather short; the lateral reaching to, but scarcely beyond the base of the middle; the outstretched toe not reaching the tip of the tail. Sexes very different.
The two North American species of the genus have the anterior half of the body, and the upper parts generally, plumbeous; the feathers of neck above, and on the sides, pointed and margined with black. There is a white bar across the head above, between the eyes, which, passing backwards, is bordered behind and internally by black; a second commences at the posterior border of the eye, and then borders the black of the chin and throat laterally and behind, the black reaching up to the eye and bordered anteriorly by a white line from eye to bill; belly pale buff, with a large spot in the centre; the flanks streaked with white. The diagnoses of the species are as follows:—
Vertex and occiput light smoky olive-brown; forehead whitish; patch in the middle of the belly orange-chestnut; feathers of breast with narrow black edges; sides of body olivaceous-plumbeous … L. californicus.
Vertex and occiput clear chestnut-brown; forehead blackish; patch in middle of belly black; none of the belly-feathers with black edges; sides of body bright chestnut … L. gambeli.
PLATE LXIV.
1. Lophortyx californicus. ♂ Cal., 93090.
2. Lophortyx californicus. ♀ Cal., 3936.
3. Cyrtonyx massena. ♂ Texas, 10258.
4. Lophortyx gambelli. ♂ Ariz., 9378.
5. Lophortyx gambelli. ♀ Ariz., 9361.
6. Cyrtonyx massena. ♀ Texas, 10256.
Lophortyx californicus, Bonap
CALIFORNIA QUAIL
Tetrao californicus, Shaw, Nat. Misc. pl. cccxlv (prior to 1801). Perdix californica, Latham, Suppl. Ind. Orn. II, App. 1801, p. lxii.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 152, pl. ccccxiii.—Hutchings, Cal. Mag. II, 1857, 24 (woodcut of bird and its eggs). Ortyx californica, Stephens in Shaw’s Zool. XI, 1819, 384.—Jardine, Game Birds, Nat. Libr. IV, 104, pl. xi.—Cuv. R. An. Illust. ed. Oiseaux, pl. lxiv.—Bennett, Gardens & Menag. Zoöl. Soc. II, 29 (woodcut).—Aud. Syn. 1839, 199.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 67, pl. ccxc. Perdix (Ortyx) californica, Bonap. Syn. 1828, 125. Lophortyx californica, Bonap. List, 1838.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 789.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 644.—Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 78.—Cooper & Suckley, 226 (to Columbia River).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 549. Callipepla californica, Gould, Mon. Odont. pl. xvi.—Reichenbach, Av. Syst. 1850, pl. xxvii.—Newberry, Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857, 92.
Lophortyx californicus.
Sp. Char. Crest black. Anterior half of body and upper parts plumbeous; the wings and back glossed with olive-brown. Anterior half of head above brownish-yellow, the shafts of the stiff feathers black; behind this is a white transverse band which passes back along the side of the crown; within this white, anteriorly and laterally, is a black suffusion. The vertex and occiput are light brown. Chin and throat black, margined laterally and behind by a white band, beginning behind the eye. Belly pale buff anteriorly (an orange-brown rounded patch in the middle) and white laterally, the feathers all margined abruptly with black. The feathers on the sides of body like the back, streaked centrally with white. Feathers of top and sides of neck with the margins and shafts black. Under tail-coverts buff, broadly streaked centrally with brown.
Female similar, without the white and black of the head; the feathers of the throat brownish-yellow, streaked with brown. The buff and orange-brown of the belly wanting. The crest short. Length, 9.50; wing, 4.32; tail, 4.12.
Young. Head as in the adult female. Upper parts pale brown, finely mottled transversely with black; scapulars and feathers of the back with yellowish-white shaft-streaks, widening at the end of the feather, and with a large black spot on each web.
Chick. Ground-color dingy white, tinged on the head, wings, and upper parts with pale rusty. A broad stripe on occiput and nape umber-brown; upper parts with rather confused and rather elongated mottlings; an indistinct auricular spot. Beneath plain dull white.
Hab. Valley portions and foot-hills of the Pacific Province of the United States, south to Cape St. Lucas.
Habits. This beautiful species, according to Dr. Newberry, is called the Valley Quail in California, to distinguish it from the Plumed Quail, which inhabits the hills and the highlands, and is called the Mountain Quail. The common Valley Quail of California inhabits the prairies and the grain-fields of the cultivated districts, and frequents the thickets which border the streams, usually in coveys of from a dozen to a hundred individuals, except during the breeding-season, when it is found only in pairs. Like the eastern Quail, the male bird is very fond of sitting on some stump or log projecting above the grass and weeds which conceal his mate and nest or brood, and, especially in the early morning, uttering his peculiar cry,—whistle it can hardly be called. This note is spoken of as being rather harsh and disagreeable than otherwise, and somewhat resembling that of some of the Woodpeckers. Dr. Newberry adds that it may be represented by the syllables kûck-kûck-kûck-kā, the first three notes being rapidly repeated, the last prolonged with a falling inflection. As a game bird he regards this Quail as inferior to the eastern one, though of equal excellence for the table. It does not lie so well to the dog, does not afford as good sport, and takes to a tree much more readily than the eastern Quail. It is found in all the valleys of California and Oregon, both those in the interior and those that open on the coast. It is not found in the deep forests, nor on the mountains at any considerable elevation, nor in the interior basin where water and vegetation are scarce. Specimens were taken by his party in different parts of the Sacramento Valley, at Fort Jones, and in the Willamette Valley, near the Columbia. In all these there was no appreciable difference. This bird is said to make no elaborate nest, but to lay a large number of eggs on the ground, which are generally hatched in June. This bird is susceptible of domestication, and forms quite an ornament for parks, in which they thrive with proper care.
Dr. Suckley states that this Quail was successfully introduced into Washington Territory, on the prairies near Puget Sound, in the spring of 1857, by Governor Charles H. Mason and Mr. Goldsborough. Two lots were introduced, and by the following winter had increased largely. Mr. Gibbs mentions having met with great numbers of these birds on Russian River in 1851, and again on the Klamath in 1852. They were very tame, but took to the bushes when disturbed, perching on the limbs. Like the Sharp-tailed Grouse, they gathered in large flocks. This was the case even when young, and it has been thence inferred that several females belong to one male, and with their broods all run together.
Dr. Kennerly states that his party first met with this beautiful Partridge upon reaching the waters of the Mohave River, and during the march up the stream he found it very abundant, as well as among the settlements along the coast. He could perceive no difference in its habits from those of Lophortyx gambeli.
Dr. Heermann states that he found the California Quail very numerous as far south as Vallecita, where commences the desert that extends to the Colorado, forming an apparently impassable barrier between it and the closely allied species, Gambel’s Partridge. When flushed from the ground, it invariably flies to the trees, if in a wooded country, where it squats so closely lengthwise on a branch that it can rarely be seen when thus hidden. It will not lie to a dog, but runs until it is forced to fly. It may be readily tamed, and in California is often domesticated with the poultry. Several years since, according to Dr. Heermann, an attempt was made to introduce these birds into Long Island, which at first promised to be successful; but unfortunately, after the first season, they were all exterminated by the gunners for the New York market.
Mr. Ridgway met with this species only on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada, and at an altitude of not more than four or five thousand feet. He had no opportunity to learn anything in regard to its habits, but was enabled to listen to its notes. The call-note of the male is very peculiar, and resembles somewhat the syllables kuck-kuck-kēē, the accent being on the last syllable. The common note of the male bird, when disturbed with its mate in the bushes, and probably having a brood of young in the vicinity, was a sharp pit, precisely like the common note of the Cardinal Grosbeak.
The nest of this bird is made in the open field, or at the foot of a bush, and is composed of loose grasses arranged without much care. The eggs are said to be twelve or sixteen in number, and are yellowish or grayish white, spotted and dashed with dark brown or burnt-umber.
Mr. Titian R. Peale, in his Notes on the Wilkes expedition, mentions observing this species in the mountainous regions of Southern Oregon, near the 43d degree of north latitude, which he regarded as their farthest northern range. He frequently observed them collecting at night to roost in trees. At such times their call-note was plaintive, and had a slight resemblance to the words cut-cut-cut-me-too. Specimens of this bird were taken alive, kept by members of the expedition, and brought to the city of Washington by a route equal to the circumference of the globe, where they produced one brood of young.
Soda Lake, the “sink” of the Mohave River, the bed of which is usually quite dry, except in spots, for many miles, is said by Dr. Coues to be just where this species and the L. gambeli find a neutral ground, the western bird following the watercourses until arrested by the desert.
Mr. Xantus found this Quail breeding in great abundance at Cape St. Lucas. In one instance he found four eggs on the bare sand, under a pile of driftwood, without any trace of a nest. In another, three eggs were found on the bare ground, under a fallen cactus. In a third case there were nine eggs, also laid on the bare ground, but in the shade of a jasmine-bush. They were frequently found sheltered under piles of driftwood.
The eggs of this Quail are subject to great variations in marking, and also differ somewhat in size. They are sharply pointed at one end and rounded at the other. One egg, measuring 1.30 in length by 1.00 in breadth, has a ground-color of a creamy white, freckled with markings of a uniform shading of an olivaceous-drab. Another, measuring 1.22 by .91 inches, has the ground-color of the same, but the markings are larger and more confluent, and their color is a rusty drab. A third is 1.18 by .95 inches; ground-color a creamy white marked by large scattered spots of a chestnut-brown.
Lophortyx gambeli, Gambel
GAMBEL’S QUAIL
Lophortyx gambeli, “Nuttall,” Gambel, P. A. N. S. Philad. I, 1843, 260.—McCall, P. A. N. S. V, June, 1851, 221.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 645.—Ib. Mex. B. II, Birds, 22.—Dresser, Ibis, 1866, 28(Rio Grande to Nueces; breeds).—Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 94 (Fort Whipple, Arizona).—Ib. Ibis, 1866, 46 (habits).—Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 79.—Heerm. P. R. R. R. X, C, 19.—Ib. X, S, 60.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 553. Callipepla gambeli, Gould, Mon. Odont. pl. xvii.—Cass. Illust. I, ii, 1853, 45, pl. ix. Callipepla venusta, Gould, P. Z. S. XIV, 1846, 70.
Sp. Char. General color cinereous; abdomen plain whitish; inner or upper webs of tertials broadly edged with white. Elongated feathers of the sides bright chestnut with a medial streak of white.
Male. The ash on the breast of a bluish cast, and the whitish of the belly strongly tinged with yellowish-buff, especially anteriorly; abdomen with a black patch. Anterior half of the head, and whole throat, deep black, bordered posteriorly with two broad, well-defined stripes of white,—the upper of these crossing the middle of the vertex and running backward above the auriculars to the occiput; the other beginning at the posterior angle of the eye and running downward. Vertex and occiput bright rufous, bounded anteriorly and laterally with black. Crest of black elongated, club-shaped, and considerably recurved feathers, springing from the vertex just behind the black bar, one and a half inches long. Wing, 4.70; tail, 4.30; bill, .50 long, and .25 deep; tarsus, 1.15; middle toe, 1.15.
Female. Head plain grayish, without white, black, or rufous; no black on abdomen, which also lacks a decided buff tinge; the cinereous of breast without bluish cast. Crest dusky, less than one inch long. Wing, 4.55; tail, 4.20.
Young. Upper parts ashy brown, minutely and indistinctly mottled transversely with dusky; scapulars and wing-coverts with white shaft-streaks, the former with pairs of dusky spots. Breast and sides with obsolete whitish bars on an ashy ground.
Chick. Dull sulphur-yellowish; a vertical patch, and two parallel stripes along each side of the back (four altogether), black. (Described from Grayson’s plate.)
Hab. Colorado Valley of the United States; north to Southern Utah, and east to Western Texas.
An adult male collected in Southern Utah by Mr. Henshaw of Lieutenant Wheeler’s Expedition differs from all others which we have seen, including a large series from the same locality, in having the abdomen chiefly plumbeous, with a few cloudings of black, in the place of a uniformly black patch. Except in this respect, however, it does not differ at all from other adult male specimens.
Habits. Gambel’s Partridge was obtained by Dr. Kennerly, near San Elizario, Texas, and on Colorado River, California, by Mr. A. Schott, and also by Dr. Kennerly. It was not observed by Dr. Kennerly until he reached the valley of the Rio Grande, nor did he meet with any farther west, in any part of Mexico, than San Bernardino, in Sonora. Though closely resembling in its habits the Scaly Partridge (Callipepla squamata), and in some instances occupying the same districts, he never found the two species together.
According to Mr. J. H. Clark, this species was not met with east of the Rio Grande, nor farther south than Presidio del Norte. Unlike the squamata, it is very common for this species to sit on the branches of trees and bushes, particularly the male, where the latter is said to utter the most sad and wailing notes. They are so very tame as to come about the Mexican towns, the inhabitants of which, however, never make any effort to capture them. They only inhabit wooded and well-watered regions, and are said to feed indifferently on insects or on berries; in summer they make the patches of Solanum their home, feeding on its quite palatable fruit. When flushed, this Quail always seeks the trees, and hides successfully among the branches.
Dr. Kennerly found this beautiful species in great numbers during the march of his party up the Rio Grande. Large flocks were continually crossing the road before them, or were seen huddled together under a bush. After passing the river he met with them again so abundantly along Partridge Creek as to give rise to the name of that stream. Thence to the Great Colorado he occasionally saw them, but after leaving that river they were not again seen. They are said to become quite tame and half domesticated where they are not molested. When pursued, they can seldom be made to fly, depending more upon their feet as a mode of escape than upon their wings. They run very rapidly, but seldom, if ever, hide, and remain close in the grass or bushes in the manner of the eastern Quail.
From Fort Yuma, on the Colorado River, to Eagle Springs, between El Paso and San Antonio, where he last saw a flock of these birds, Dr. Heermann states he found them more or less abundant whenever the party followed the course of the Gila, or met with water-holes or streams of any kind. Although they frequent the most arid portions of the country, where they find a scanty subsistence of grass-seed, mesquite leaves, and insects, they yet manifest a marked preference for the habitations of man, and were much more numerous in the cultivated fields of Tucson, Mesilla Valley, and El Paso. Towards evening, in the vicinity of the Mexican villages, the loud call-notes of the male birds may be heard, gathering the scattered members of the flocks, previous to issuing from the cover where they have been concealed during the day. Resorting to the trails and the roads in search of subsistence, while thus engaged they utter a low soft note which keeps the flock together. They are not of a wild nature, often permit a near approach, seldom fly unless suddenly flushed, and seem to prefer to escape from danger by retreating to dense thickets. In another report Dr. Heermann mentions finding this species in California on the Mohave desert, at the point where the river empties into a large salt lake forming its terminus. The flock was wild, and could not be approached. Afterwards he observed them on the Big Lagoon of New River. At Fort Yuma they were quite abundant, congregating in large coveys, frequenting the thick underwood in the vicinity of the mesquite-trees. Their stomachs were found to be filled with the seeds of the mesquite, a few grass-seeds, and the berries of a parasitic plant. 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, which is kept up for some time. The alarm over, and the flock once more reunited, they relapse into silence, only broken by an occasional cluck of the male bird. Once scattered they cannot be readily started again, as they lie close in their thick, bushy, and impenetrable coverts. Near Fort Yuma the Indians catch them in snares, and bring them in great numbers for sale.
Dr. Samuel W. Woodhouse first met with this species on the Rio Grande, about fifty miles below El Paso, up to which place it was extremely abundant. It was by no means a shy bird, frequently coming about the houses; and he very often observed the males perched on the top of a high bush, uttering their peculiarly mournful calls. He found it in quite large flocks, feeding principally on seeds and berries. It became scarce as he approached Doña Ana, above which place he did not meet with it again. He again encountered it, however, near the head of Bill Williams River, and afterwards on the Tampia Creek, and it was exceedingly abundant all along the Great Colorado. He was informed that they are never found west of the Coast Range, in California. About Camp Yuma, below the mouth of the Gila River, they were very abundant and very tame, coming quite near the men, and picking up the grain wasted by the mules. They are trapped in great numbers by the Indians.
This Quail is given by Mr. Dresser as occurring in Texas, but not as a common bird, and only found in certain localities. At Muddy Creek, near Fort Clark, they were not uncommon, and were also found near the Nueces River.
Dr. Coues (Ibis, 1866), in a monograph upon this species, describes its carriage upon the ground as being firm and erect, and at the same time light and easy, and with colors no less pleasing than its form. He found them to be exceedingly abundant in Arizona, and soon after his arrival in the Territory he came upon a brood that was just out of the egg. They were, however, so active, and hid themselves so dexterously, that he could not catch one. This was late in July, and throughout the following month he met broods only a few days old. The following spring he found the old birds mated by April 25, and met with the first chick on the first of June. He infers that this species is in incubation during the whole of May, June, July, and a part of August, and that they raise two, and even three, broods in a season.
A single brood sometimes embraces from fifteen to twenty young, which by October are nearly as large as their parents. While under the care of the latter they keep very close together, and when alarmed either run away rapidly or squat so closely as to be difficult to flush, and, when forced up, they soon alight again. They often take to low limbs of trees, huddle closely together, and permit a close approach. The first intimation that a bevy is near is a single note repeated two or three times, followed by the rustling of leaves as the flock start to run.
These birds are said to be found in almost every locality except thick pine-woods without undergrowth, and are particularly fond of thick willow copses, heavy chaparral, and briery undergrowth. They prefer seeds and fruit, but insects also form a large part of their food. In the early spring they feed extensively on the tender fresh buds of young willows, which give to their flesh a bitter taste.
This Quail is said to have three distinct notes,—the common cry uttered on all occasions of alarm or to call the bevy together, which is a single mellow clear “chink,” with a metallic resonance, repeated an indefinite number of times; then a clear, loud, energetic whistle, resembling the syllables killink-killink, chiefly heard during the pairing-season, and is analogous to the bob-white of the common Quail; the third is its love-song, than which, Dr. Coues adds, nothing more unmusical can well be imagined. It is uttered by the male, and only when the female is incubating. This song is poured forth both at sunrise and at sunset, from some topmost twig near the spot where his mate is sitting on her treasures; and with outstretched neck, drooping wings, and plume negligently dangling, he gives utterance to his odd, guttural, energetic notes.
