(Callipepla squamata)
Next in geographical order is the scaled quail of Arizona and northern
Mexico generally. This, too, is a desert bird which I have seen in
great numbers at least twenty-five miles from the nearest water. It is
the only member of the quail family where there is no difference in
the markings of the sexes, except the mountain quail. In the open
country it, too, is a runner, though it can not begin to develop the
speed of the gambel nor will it continue to run for such long
distances.
During a residence of a year in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, where
I was developing some mining property, I found the scaled quail in
great numbers all around me. Very few of the Mexican people are wing
shots and few hunt except for the resulting meat. Little attention,
therefore, is paid to the quail, and in the section where I was
located I do not believe that even the "oldest inhabitant" of the
quail settlement had ever heard the report of a shotgun. I had with me
a brace of English setters, and these birds, though found among chino
grama grass and low maguey plant, which offered splendid opportunities
for hiding, not only tried my patience to the limit, but that of my
dogs as well, by deliberately walking about twenty-five to thirty
paces in front of me without the least thought of either hiding or
taking to wing. By firing a couple of shots over them each morning I
soon educated them to flush at the sight of me. In a couple of weeks
they behaved very well and furnished me with good sport, hiding
readily and lying good for the dogs.
Most of the game birds need more or less educating before they fully
meet the requirements of the sportsmen. Most, too, of the complaints
that sportsmen make regarding the bad behavior of certain species of
game or birds of certain sections should be charged to the lack on the
part of the hunter of a knowledge of their habits rather than to the
ill manners of the birds. One will often hear it said that certain men
are lucky hunters and can not help staggering onto their game. Such
men are lucky because they make a close study of the ways of the birds
of each separate character of country. Knowing the places in which
they will most likely be found feeding, they approach them from such
directions as will have a tendency to drive them into the desired
cover. A great deal of the annoyance of running birds, I have found,
can be avoided by a careful study of their habits and proper
management in handling them, and this is especially true of the scaled
quail.
=Color=--The back, the wings and tail coverts are a
light, ashy blue, but the feathers of the shoulders, breast and
abdomen are margined with dark brown, with a yellowish arrow-shaped
central spot which gives them the appearance of scales. Its throat is
a very faint buff, and instead of the plume of the genus Lophortyx it
has a broad erectile crest with the feathers tipped with white. Both
sexes are alike.
=Nest and Eggs=--The nesting habits are the same as those of the other
species of the blue quail family, but the eggs are more of a buff and
generally more speckled with brown.
=Measurements=--About the same as the valley quail.