Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast

by Harry Thom Payne

But give the valley quail cover in which to hide and it can and will out-hide any game bird except the Montezuma quail of Mexico. In fact it is this remarkable faculty of hugging the ground until it is almost stepped upon that has led, more than anything else, to its false reputation as a runner. The man who hunts the valley quail without a dog—and most of its detractors do—can walk through a patch of good cover with a hundred birds scattered in it for an hour or more and not get up a half dozen. Unlike the bobwhite or the Montezuma quail of Mexico, the valley quail bunches in the fall. These bunches will contain anywhere from two or three broods to two or three hundred individuals, and sometimes even thousands, and they seem to understand that the larger the bunch the greater the necessity for avoiding pursuit. They are fond of the open places and the bare hill-tops and when driven from these, being a brush bird, they very naturally seek the brush. If there is no grass or suitable undercover in which to hide they will continue to work their way through it or double back on their pursuers until hiding places are found, when they will hug the ground so closely that even a good dog must pass reasonably near to them before he will detect their scent. The man who hunts without a dog generally passes through the cover into which his bevy has settled, continues his walk for a mile or more, then sits down, filling the air with a sulphurous streak of strong sounding words as he curses the game little birds for running, while the resourceful little fellows, closely hid, laugh over the security a false reputation has given them.

There has been a great deal written about the ability of quail to withhold their scent, and many theories have been advanced. That all game birds do lose their scent temporarily while passing rapidly through the air I believe to be true, and the valley quail has this faculty strongly added to its other resources. This too often deceives the inexperienced man even when hunting with a dog. Where birds have been flushed into good cover and can not be raised, sit down and take a smoke, if you like, for twenty minutes or half an hour, then cast in your dog and you will be rewarded with point after point, where before your dog failed to detect the slightest scent. After years of experience with all of the upland birds of the United States and half of Mexico, I do not hesitate to pronounce the California quail the chief of them all in gameness, in resourcefulness, and in its general adaptability to furnish the highest form of upland shooting. But California quail can not be hunted successfully without a good dog.

The food of the adult California quail, according to an investigation made by the United States Agricultural Department, through the examination of the stomachs of 619 birds, taken during every month of the year, except May, consists of 97 per cent vegetable and 3 per cent animal matter, the vegetable varying according to the seasons. During the rainy season, when green vegetation is abundant, grasses and foliage of various kinds form fully 80 per cent of the entire food, while in the dry season it forms barely one per cent. In the dry season weed seeds form as high as 85 per cent of the food; one stomach examined containing 2144 seeds of various kinds. During the harvesting season when there is a good deal of grain on the ground, and during the sowing season, grains form about 6 per cent of the diet. During the season when wild blackberries, elder and other wild berries are ripe, these, with a few grapes and a little of some other fruits, form 23 per cent of the food.

During the first week of the life of the young birds, insects of various kinds make up 75 per cent of their food, but by the time they are a month old their animal food is no greater than that of the old birds.

Color—Male—Forehead, gray; top and back of head, sooty black, bordered with white running around from one eye to the other, and this again has a faint edging of black; throat, black, margined with white; plume, narrow at the base and wide at the top, consisting of six black, V-shaped feathers, each folded within the other and curved forward; back and sides of the neck to the shoulders, deep ashy blue with the feathers margined with black. Back and wings, bluish brown; primaries, or longest wing feathers, dark brown; breast, deep ashy blue, shading into a dirty buff at the lower part of the abdomen; flanks, dirty brown with white markings.

The northern coast species are darker with more of an olive tinge. But all the markings are the same.

Female—The female resembles the male in general color, but without the black head and throat. The lume is dirty brown, about half the length of the male's and nearly straight.

Nest and Eggs—The nest consists of a depression in the ground carefully hid away in some bunch of grass or brush, and usually contains from fifteen to twenty very light buff or white eggs, often faintly speckled.

Measurements—Length, eight to nine inches; wing, 4 ¹/₂; tail, 4; bill, ¹/₂.