In describing the game birds of the Pacific Coast, I have included all
those found in any considerable numbers from the British Columbia
line, south to and including the state of Arizona, the Mexican states
of Sonora and Chihuahua and the peninsula of Lower California, for in
some of these less frequented places, game birds are found in great
numbers and great variety. This is especially true in these southern
sections with the quail, for here its voice is heard in all the notes
of the gamut, from the soft, turkey-like call of the mountain species,
the soul-stirring whistle of the bobwhite, or the sharp, decisive
"can't see me" of the valley quail, through all the varied changes of
the blue quail family, to the low plaintive note of the massena quail
of Mexico.
While it is not the purpose of this work to give a scientific
classification of the game birds of which it treats, a brief statement
of the manner in which they are grouped and classified by the
ornithologist will materially assist the reader in the study of those
species herein mentioned.
The ornithologist groups all the birds of North America into seventeen
"Orders"; each of these including all birds of a similar nature. Some
of these orders are divided into two or more suborders, where, while
clearly belonging to the order, there is yet a sufficient difference
in certain groups of families to justify this further separation. The
next division is the "family," which is again divided into "genera,"
and each "genus" into "species."
Of the seventeen orders of American birds, the scope of this work
includes only six; for all of the birds, commonly called game birds,
belong to one or the other of the following orders:
The =Gallinae=--All gallinaceous, or chicken-like birds. Of this order
we only have to consider two families: The =Tetraonidae=, composed of
the quail and grouse, and the =Phasianidae=, composed of the turkeys
and pheasants.
The =Anseres=--Lamellirostral, or soft-billed swimmers, such as the
ducks, geese, swans and mergansers, comprising the one family,
=Anatidae=, which is divided into five subfamilies, with four of which
we are concerned, viz.: The =Anatinae=, the fresh-water ducks; the
=Fuligulinae=, the salt-water ducks; the =Anserinae=, the geese and
brant; and the =Cygninae=, the swans.
The =Columbae=--This order has but one family, the =Columbidae=,
composed of the pigeons and doves.
The =Limicolae=--This order has seven families, only three of which I
have mentioned as being of sufficient interest to the sportsmen of the
Pacific Coast to justify a description of them. These are the
=Recurvirostridae=, composed of the stilts and avocets; the
=Scolopacidae=, the snipes, curlews, yellow-legs, willits, marlins,
sandpipers, etc.; and the =Charadridae=, the plovers.
The other two orders, the =Herodiones= and the =Paludicolae=, the first
composed largely of the herons, storks, ibises, and egrets, and the
latter of the cranes, rails gallinules and coots, afford more pleasure
to the sportsman through their stately appearance on his hunting
grounds than as game birds. The coots, however, are not considered
game by our sportsmen.
It is well to state here also, that ornithologists do not always agree
in the classification and nomenclature of birds. One claiming that a
certain species or genus should be separated, while others insist that
there is no reason for such separation. With the one exception of the
California valley quail, I have followed the plan of the American
Ornithologists' Union. In this exception I have followed such good
authorities as Bonapart, Elliott, Ridgeway and Gambel, and given the
California valley quail the generic name of =Lophortyx=, instead of
classing them with the Callipepla, to which belong the scaled quail, a
species with no distinction between the sexes.