Part 22

MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 292. Oreortyx picta. 11 inches.

This is a beautiful bird, with its long black crest and rich coloring. Upper parts an olive brown; the top of the head a rich gray. Throat and sides a beautiful shade of chestnut, with wide bands of black and white on the sides; breast a clear gray. Female very similar to the male, but not as brightly marked and with a shorter crest.

Nest.—These birds nest abundantly in the mountainous region of northern California, and in Oregon, and gradually increasing more northerly. The nest is placed on the ground under bush or grass for protection. Eight to fifteen eggs of a pale reddish buff color are laid (1.35 × 1.05).

SCALED QUAIL. 293. Callipepla squamata. 10 inches.

This is a bluish gray colored bird nearly all over. The feathers on the neck and under parts have narrow dark borders, which give the appearance of scales, from which the bird is given its name. They have a small tuft of whitish or buffy feathers on the top of the head.

It is especially abundant in the dry arid portions of its range, being found often many miles from water.

CALIFORNIA QUAIL. 294. Lophortyx californica. 10 inches.

With its crest of black feathers rising from the crown and curving forward so that the broadened ends hang directly over the bill, this is one of the most beautiful of the family. Upper parts a grayish brown, with buff stripes along the sides of the back; throat black, bordered with white; under parts white, with feathers edged with black, making a shell marking, and having a chestnut patch in the center; breast gray.

Nest.—Usually concealed in a brush pile or in the grass; ten to twenty eggs; of a creamy white or buffy ground color, handsomely blotched with brown of varying shades (1.20 × .93).

GAMBEL QUAIL. 295. Lophortyx gambeli. 10 inches.

Head with an elegant recurved crest of six or seven feathers; normally these are carried as one feather, so closely do they nest together, but when excited or during the mating season, they may separate the feathers, or sometimes curve them forward so as to touch the bill. Hindhead and sides chestnut, the sides with white or buff streaks; the middle of belly black.

MEARNS QUAIL OR MASSENA PARTRIDGE. 296. Cyrtonyx montezumæ mearnsi. 9 inches.

These strange birds are very local in their distribution in the southwest, rare in some localities and quite abundant in others. They are so confiding in their disposition, that this, in connection with their clownish plumage, has given them the name of “Fool Quail.” The bill is very stout and compressed; crest large, puffy and flat. They frequent dry deserts, valleys or mountains to quite a high altitude. Their eggs, which are pure white, are not distinguishable with certainty from the Bob-white, possibly average a little longer (1.25 × .90).

DUSKY GROUSE—Family Tetraonidæ. 297. Dendragapus obscurus. 20 inches.

Plumage gray, white and black; darkest on the back and tail, which is margined with a light gray. Female smaller, browner and more barred above. Like the Ruffed Grouse, during the mating season, the males of this species strut with tail fully spread over the back, and head thrown back until it nearly touches the tail.

Nest.—They build their nests under fallen trees or at the base of standing ones. They lay from six to ten eggs of a buff color, spotted and blotched with shades of brown (2.00 × 1.40).

FRANKLIN GROUSE. 299. Canachites franklini. 16 inches.

Upper parts dark gray, marked with black bands, and narrower bands of lighter gray; tail feathers black to the tip, with the upper tail coverts strongly barred with white; tail having sixteen feathers. Like the preceding these birds are at home in the dense evergreen forests. It is very similar to the eastern bird, the Canada Grouse, and has the same local name given it from its unsuspicious nature, of “Fool-hen.”

Nest.—Is placed on the ground under logs or low branching fir trees, and from eight to fifteen eggs are laid. These are brownish buff in color, spotted and blotched with rich brown (1.75 × 1.30).

CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE. 300a. Bonasa umbellus togata. 17 inches.

A darker form of the eastern variety, the under parts being more heavily marked with brown. Found in the northern United States and southern British Provinces, from Maine and Nova Scotia west to Oregon and British Columbia. Eight to fourteen eggs of a brownish buff color (1.55 × 1.15).

WILLOW PTARMIGAN. 301. Lagopus lagopus. 15 inches.

These are Grouse-like birds, feathered to the toe-nails; they have many changes of plumage, in winter being nearly pure white and in summer largely reddish brown, mottled and barred with black. This bird has a black tail and bill, the latter very stout. In the breeding plumage they have a bright red bare spot over the eye.

Nest.—They nest on the ground in hollows of the rocks filled with moss, lining the nest with leaves and grass, and sometimes a few feathers. They lay from six to sixteen eggs, which have a ground color of buff, heavily speckled, blotched and marbled with blackish brown (1.75 × 1.25).

ROCK PTARMIGAN. 302. Lagopus rupestris. 14 inches.

This is somewhat smaller than the above, with a smaller bill, and in summer the plumage is more gray than brown. Its nesting habits are the same as the others; eggs slightly smaller (1.70 × 1.20).

PRAIRIE HEN. 305. Tympanuchus americanus. 18 inches.

This is the most familiar game bird of the West; brownish above and white or buff below, with broad black bands on the back and finer black lines on the under parts. In place of the ruffs on a grouse are long tufts of rounded or square ended feathers, and below these a peculiar sac; bright orange in the breeding season, and capable of being inflated to the size of a small orange; this is done when the bird makes its familiar “booming” noise. They are one of the best “table birds,” being of good size and excellent flavor.