Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast

by Harry Thom Payne

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 Gallinæ—All gallinaceous, or chicken-like birds. Of this order we only have to consider two families: The Tetraonidæ, composed of the quail and grouse, and the Phasianidæ, 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, Anatidæ, which is divided into five subfamilies, with four of which we are concerned, viz.: The Anatinæ, the fresh-water ducks; the Fuligulinæ, the salt-water ducks; the Anserinæ, the geese and brant; and the Cygninæ, the swans.

The Columbæ—This order has but one family, the Columbidæ, composed of the pigeons and doves.

The Limicolæ—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 Recurvirostridæ, composed of the stilts and avocets; the Scolopacidæ, the snipes, curlews, yellow-legs, willits, marlins, sandpipers, etc.; and the Charadridæ, the plovers.

The other two orders, the Herodiones and the Paludicolæ, 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.