_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.
[Illustration: _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.