GAME BIRDS
AND
GAME FISHES
OF THE
PACIFIC COAST

. . . BY . . .

H. T. PAYNE

Illustrated with Half-tones from Photographs of
Live and Carefully Mounted
Birds and Fishes.
With Ready Reference Diagrams of Each Family,
Giving the Scientific and Common Names
of Each Genus and Species, Their
Relationship, Breeding Grounds
and General Range.
NEWS PUBLISHING CO., Los Angeles.

Copyrighted 1913, Under Act of Congress,
By H. T. Payne

INTRODUCTION

Laws recently enacted by most of the states for the better protection of the game, imposing a nominal license for the privilege of hunting it, have enabled us to take a census, as it were, of that vast number of the American people who enjoy the health-giving sports of the field. This census reveals the fact, that, of the whole population of the Pacific Coast, nearly twenty per cent of all those over fifteen years of age are licensed sportsmen. Add to these the large number of anglers, not counted in this enumeration, and the rapidly increasing number of young ladies who are learning to enjoy the exhilarating sports of the field and stream, and this percentage will be appreciably increased. It is, therefore, obvious that a study of the game birds and game fishes must be one of interest to a very large portion of our people, and especially to the younger generation whose knowledge of the game they bring to bag is still in the formative state.

Unlike all other works treating of the birds and fishes, this one is written from the standpoint of the practical sportsman and angler, rather than for the student of ornithology or ichthyology. I have, therefore avoided the use of technical names as much as possible, and employed in the description of the various species the plainest language consistent with a clear understanding of their distinguishing features. I have, however, for the benefit of those who wish to learn their scientific names and genetic relationship, added after the description of the members of each family, a tabulated form, giving the Order, Family, Subfamily and Genus to which the several species belong; together with their common names, general range and breeding grounds. A new and convenient feature of ready reference.

The numerous illustrations, which are from photographs of the actual birds, is a new feature of great importance to the student, as they give the perfect markings of every feather, and the true gradation of color as appearing in nature.

That, by placing within the reach of the younger generation of sportsmen, such knowledge of the game birds and game fishes as I have gained through more than half a century spent in their pursuit, may, in a measure, liquidate the deep debt I owe for the many happy hours and excellent health drawn from the exhilarating sports of the field and stream, is the earnest wish of

THE AUTHOR.

THE GAME BIRDS OF THE PACIFIC COAST

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.

It is well to state here also, that ornithologists do not always agree in the classification and nomenclature of birds. One claiming that a certain species or genus should be separated, while others insist that there is no reason for such separation. With the one exception of the California valley quail, I have followed the plan of the American Ornithologists' Union. In this exception I have followed such good authorities as Bonapart, Elliott, Ridgeway and Gambel, and given the California valley quail the generic name of Lophortyx, instead of classing them with the Callipepla, to which belong the scaled quail, a species with no distinction between the sexes.

THE QUAIL

While the eastern half of the continent has but one genus of quail, the Pacific Coast, including Mexico, is well supplied with five genera and eighteen species, to which may be added four subspecies. Nine species of the genus, Colinus, however, and two of the genus, Callipepla, do not come into the United States.

Properly speaking we have no quail in America, all of our so-called quail being partridges, but the use of the word "quail" has become so common that these birds will, in all probability, be known as quail for all time. But whatever the name, they are resourceful beyond comparison, and gamy to the fullest degree; affording with dog and gun the most enjoyable of all out-door sport.

[Pg 10]

MOUNTAIN QUAIL (Oreortyx pictus)	PLUMED QUAIL (Oreortyx pictus plumiferus)

THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL

(Oreortyx pictus)

The mountain quails are the largest and most beautiful of all the American quails, though the least hunted and the least gamy. There is but one genus, with one species and two subspecies. Two of these inhabit the mountains of California and Oregon, and the third, the high ranges of the peninsula of Lower California. While most of the sportsmen of the Pacific Coast are conversant with the general character and coloration of the mountain quail, I believe but few of them have ever seen the more beautiful species that inhabit the San Pedro Martir mountains of Lower California.

The present species, given the English name of mountain partridge, by the ornithologists, and which he has taken for his type, is a small race found only on the Coast Range from the Bay of San Francisco north into Oregon, and, therefore, never reaches the high altitudes reached by its near relatives, the Oreortyx pictus plumiferus, to which the English name, plumed partridge, has been given. In fact, both of these varieties are plumed, though that of the latter is a trifle the longer. The fact that the plumed quail ascends the mountains each spring to heights of from five to eight thousand feet for nesting purposes, gives it a better claim to the name, mountain, than has the other variety.

The present species, the mountain quail, is generally found in the canyons and on the damp hill-sides where ferns are abundant. They have very little of the migratory habits of the other species, except when driven down in the winter by the snows. Their habits and general plan of coloration are so much like those of the other two species that I shall describe them all together, with the proper mention of wherein they differ.

THE PLUMED QUAIL

(Oreortyx pictus plumiferus)

The range of the plumed partridge is throughout the entire length of the Sierra Nevadas and of the coast range south of San Francisco bay into Lower California, where it intergrades with the San Pedro partridge, but it does not cross the Colorado river and enter Arizona or the mainland of Mexico. This species begins its migrations early in the spring, keeping close to the snow line until they reach altitudes as high as 7000 to 8000 feet, where they nest and rear their young. In the fall, just before the winter rains begin, they commence their migrations down again to the foothills, where they remain until the following spring. Unless driven by unusually heavy snows, they rarely descend lower than 2000 to 3000 feet above sea level.

SAN PEDRO MARTIR MOUNTAIN QUAIL

(Oreortyx pictus confinis)

The San Pedro partridge, so named by the ornithologist, is a resident of the San Pedro Martir mountains of Lower California, and ascends to a height of ten thousand feet, and is rarely seen lower than five thousand feet above the sea.

I want to say here that no work on ornithology that I have seen, describes the San Pedro partridge properly. Most likely this is the result of an examination of the intergrades only, for they do intergrade with the California species to the northward. The two species first mentioned have the plume from one and a half to two and a half inches long and nearly round in form. The plume of the San Pedro partridge is flat, about three-sixteenths of an inch wide and from three and a half to four and a half inches long. The plume of the other varieties is erectile, but that of the San Pedro denizen is soft and falls down the side. In all species both sexes are alike, with the exception that the plume of the female is generally a trifle the shorter; but this can not always be relied upon to distinguish the sex.

Generally speaking there is not much sport in hunting the mountain quail, but I have at times had a bevy scattered in ferns, and in such cases had very good sport with them with a dog, and found them to lie very well. They are about a half larger than the valley quail, and as a table bird much more succulent.

Color—Top of head, back of neck and breast, an ashy blue, darker on the back of the neck than the breast; back and wings, inclining to olive brown, in the Coast species with a slight reddish tinge; abdomen and flanks, rich chestnut barred with black and white; under tail feathers, black; entire throat, reaching well down onto the breast, rich chestnut, bordered with white; chin, white; bill, black. The two California species have two round, black plumes falling gracefully over the back of the neck, but erectile when excited. These plumes will vary from one and a half to two and a half inches in length. The Lower California species have two flat, black plumes about three-sixteenths of an inch in width and from three and a half to five inches long. Both sexes are alike in all species.

Nest and Eggs—The nest, like that of all gallinaceous birds, is a depression on the ground, hidden among a bunch of bushes or under a log, surrounded by a few dry leaves. The number of eggs will average about a dozen, rather oval in shape and of a light ochreous color.

Measurements—Length ([see diagram]), will average about 10 inches; wing 5 ¹/₂, bill about ⁵/₈ of an inch.

[Pg 14]

THE CALIFORNIA VALLEY QUAIL

(Lophortyx californicus vallicola)

There are two varieties of the California valley quail. They are distinguished not so much by the slight difference in color as in the very marked difference in their habits.

As with the mountain quail the ornithologist has taken the wrong bird for the type, making the larger race the subspecies. To the species (Lophortyx californicus) inhabiting the foothills of the Coast range north of the bay of San Francisco and into western Oregon, the ornithologist has given the English name California partridge. This species is a lover of damp places and rank growths of underbrush and ferns. The subspecies (Lophortyx californicus vallicola), to which has been given the name valley partridge, ranges from central Oregon throughout the great valleys of California, the foothills of the western slope of the Sierras, both sides of the Coast range south from San Francisco bay and throughout the peninsula of Lower California. Like the mountain quail it does not cross the Colorado desert into Arizona or the mainland of Mexico. Nevertheless it has a wider range than any other one species of game bird.

Of all the game birds of America the California valley quail is the most resourceful and characterized by the greatest cunning. Having hunted these birds for upward of fifty years and practically throughout their entire range, I freely give them credit for knowing more tricks and being able to concoct more schemes of deception than all the rest of the tetraonidæ combined, and this resourcefulness has led to most of the false statements regarding their behavior and gameness. It has been said by writers, who should know better, that a dog is no use in hunting them because of their disposition to run. Any bird with more game than a fool-hen will either flush or run where there is no undercover in which to hide, and the valley quail being so often found in dry, open places or chaparral devoid of undercover, will either flush or run until it finds suitable hiding grounds.

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.

THE GAMBEL QUAIL

(Lophortyx gambeli)

The gambel partridge occupies a unique position in its common nomenclature. In California it is known as the Arizona quail, while the sportsmen of Arizona refer to it as the California quail. In this, too, they both have good reasons for the names used, for these birds are found on both sides of the Colorado river, that is in both Arizona and California. Commencing in the Mexican state of Sonora, where they are found from the western slope of the Sierra Madre mountains to the Gulf of California, the range of the species extends northward and eastward through western Arizona, and, crossing the Colorado river onto the desert of the same name, passes through southeastern California into southern and central Nevada and Utah. The gambel quail belongs to the same genus as the two species of the California valley quail and in general appearance resembles them.

The gambel quail is emphatically a desert bird, able to live through the long, dry seasons without water. If there are any trees in its neighborhood it will seek them for roosting purposes, but it is found distributed over vast sections where even the smallest brush is very scattering and under cover nearly quite if not entirely absent, yet in such places this member of the resourceful blue quail family protects itself from hawks and predatory animals with an astonishing success. The gambel quail is a true runner and can develop an astonishing speed for so small a bird. A very large part of the unwarranted reputation of the California valley quail as a runner is derived from confounding it with the gambel and the habit of the Arizona sportsmen of calling the gambel the California quail, but even as great runners as the gambel quail are, I have found them to lie well to the dog in the heavy bunch-grass sections of southeastern California and southern Nevada. I have also had fine sport with them along the bottoms of the Colorado river, where they are to be found in abundance.

The food is practically the same as the California valley quail.

Color—The general color of the upper parts and the breast is lighter and more of an ashy blue than the valley quail, but in its markings the gambel is the more conspicuous and more brilliant. The black throat, bordered with white, the gray forehead and the forward turned plume are common to both, but the top of the head of the gambel is a bright cinnamon red, while that of the valley quail is a sooty brown. The flanks of the gambel are conspicuously marked with bright chestnut brown with each feather with a narrow central stripe of white.

Nest and Eggs—Are the same in this species as in the valley quail.

Measurements—Same as the valley quail.

[Pg 20]

THE SCALED QUAIL

(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.

THE CHESTNUT-BELLIED SCALE QUAIL

(Callipepla squamata castaneigastra)

The chestnut-bellied scaled quail is a subspecies of the scaled quail just described. They are not numerous and hardly enter the territory covered by this work. Intergrades of the two species are occasionally found in northern Mexico and possibly in southeastern Arizona. In general appearance they resemble the former species, being, however, a little darker and with a strong chestnut blotch on the belly.

[Pg 22]

THE ELEGANT QUAIL

(Callipepla elegans)

Along the western slope of the Sierra Madre range in the state of Sonora, Mexico, is to be found another member of the blue quail family whose habits appeal strongly to the sportsman. This species, known as the elegant quail, is one of the most handsomely marked of the group. From the blending of the white throat of the bobwhite with the black one of the gambel, and the brown of the back of the one with the blue of the other, together with a marked resemblance in its call to that of the bobwhite, suggests the possibility of its origin having resulted from a cross of the two genera. I may add that both the gambel and a species of the Collinus, bobwhite, are found in this same section.

The elegant quail is generally found in and around the cultivated fields which they seem to prefer to the open country. While the elegant quail will walk leisurely in front of their pursuer until too closely approached, they can in no sense be termed runners. When flushed they take to cover and lie closely. Like all the quail of Mexico they have been hunted but little and need to be well scared before they become properly educated to the gun. After a few days' hunting I found them a very satisfactory game bird. Being found around the fields, the grounds and cover were all that could be desired for excellent sport.

Color—Male—Plume straight, upright feathers about an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half in length, varying in color—possibly on account of age—from a light lemon to a dark reddish orange. The throat is finely mottled with small black and white dots, giving it a dark gray appearance. The general color of the back and the wing and tail coverts is a dark blue with about half of the exposed portion of each feather tipped with a bright, rich brown. The breast and abdomen is a light, ashy blue, profusely flecked with large, circular white spots.

Female—The plume is about two-thirds the length of that of the male, brown in color and barred with black. The breast and abdomen are spotted like the male but the back is much the color of the English snipe.

Nest and Eggs—The same as the other species of the blue quail.

Measurements—Same as the valley quail.

[Pg 26]

THE MASSENA OR MONTEZUMA QUAIL

(Cyrtonyx Montezuma)

The Massena, or Montezuma quail, is a distinct genus from the blue quail family. In many respects it resembles the bobwhite in color, though far more fancifully marked. It is also nearly one-half larger, though in some parts of Arizona and in New Mexico there is a smaller species of the same genus known as fool quail. The Mexican bird is far from a fool, and although it roosts on the ground like the bobwhite, it is resourceful enough to take care of itself in a country where vermin of all kinds are very plentiful. Its range is from near the northern boundary south through the larger portion of Mexico.

The Montezuma quail is emphatically a grass bird and inhabits the grassy foothills and the cultivated fields, where it affords fine sport with a dog. It is very cosmopolitan as to climate, for it is found at altitudes of from five to six thousand feet, where considerable snow falls, as well as in the foothills of the hot, tropical valleys of the lowlands, and thrives equally well in all sections. It is a bird of peculiar habits. When startled by the approach of an enemy the bevy at once huddles together, where the birds remain motionless until they are approached to within from one to four feet, according to the cover they are in. If they think that they have not been seen or that the object of their alarm is going to pass by, there is not the slightest motion made by any one of them, but when they decide to take wing for safety every bird in perfect unison springs into the air to a height of about six feet and darts rapidly away. They are quick on the wing and seem able to carry away a good deal of shot. The flight generally is not more than one hundred yards, and when they alight they scatter well and will then out-hide any bird that lives. I have both ridden and walked, without a dog, for hours through a country where they were plentiful without seeing a bird, except where I chanced to nearly step upon them, yet with a dog I have found on the same grounds probably an average of fifteen bevies to the square mile. For work with a dog I prefer them to any bird I have ever hunted. They give out a strong scent, for points on bevies of from six to fifteen birds, made thirty to forty yards away are no uncommon occurrence. Then when you walk in front of your dog they never flush until you have almost stepped upon them. A scattered bevy will lie securely hid until each individual is flushed.

Unlike the blue quail they never gather in large flocks, but always remain in single broods until broken up in the spring for nesting purposes.

Color—Male—The head of these birds have a very bizarre appearance whose strange black and white markings seem to have no more purpose or design than the black and white chalk marks on a clown's face. The head of the male is crested with semi-erectile feathers in the shape of a broad hood of dark yellowish brown color, falling about half way down the neck; groundwork of the back and of the wing and tail coverts is a dark ocher barred with a deep rich brown; breast and flanks are nearly black, dotted with large white spots, and from the throat to the vent is a stripe about five-eighths of an inch wide of a dark rich chestnut.

Female—The female, with the exception of the white dots on the breast and flanks is much the color of the female bobwhite.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is like that of the quail generally, simply a depression in the ground, carefully hidden away in some thick matted grass or bunch of brush, and generally higher up the hill-sides than they are found at other times. Eggs, white, and of a china appearance, and from ten to fifteen in number.

Measurements—While these birds are fully one-half larger than the blue quail, the very short tail makes their total length not over 8 to 9 inches; wing, 5 inches, and bill, ⁵/₈.

[Pg 28]

THE BOBWHITE

(Colinus virginianus)

I have said that the voice of the bobwhite is heard in the land. This is true, for the clear notes of his little throat awaken the morning echoes from eastern Oregon to the islands of Puget Sound. This great little game bird, whose praise has been recounted in volumes of prose and sung in the rhythmic measures of countless lines of verse, is not a native of the coast, but he knew a good thing when he saw it. When he was turned loose in the Pacific Northwest he cast his bright little eyes about him and remarked to himself:

"This looks good to me. Bobwhite, get busy at once in raising big families and settle up your new domain."

And he has done it, for now the sportsmen of the Pacific Northwest have better bobwhite shooting than is to be found in any part of the eastern states.

The bobwhite roosts on the ground and always remains in single broods. When startled they huddle together and flush in a bunch. They are good hiders and lie well to the dog. They are seldom found far from water and rarely in heavy brush. They are fond of stubble or corn fields and the grassy nooks along the fences. Many efforts have been made to acclimatize this species farther south in California but they have all proved failures on account of the dryer climate and the lack of insects during the rearing season of their young. They must have a damp climate where the vegetation remains green, thus furnishing an abundance of insects during the early summer on which to feed their young. For until a bobwhite is nearly grown it lives almost entirely upon insects.

Color—Male—General color of the upper parts, light buff, marked with triangular blotches of brown; head and back of the neck, dark chestnut; forehead, gray; light stripe from above the eye passing down the side of the neck; throat, white or very light buff, faintly bordered with dark brown or black; breast, light buff with the feathers tipped with brown; flanks chestnut mixed with black and white.

Female—Generally lighter, and without the white throat and light breast.

Nest and Eggs—The nests are rude depressions on the ground beneath a fence rail or fallen limb, or in a bunch of thick grass or brush. The eggs number anywhere from fifteen to twenty and of a pure white color.

Measurements—Total length about nine inches; wing, 4 ¹/₂ inches; bill, ⁵/₈.

THE MASKED BOBWHITE

(Colinus ridgewayi)

A smaller species of the bobwhite, known as the masked bobwhite, were reasonably plentiful along the border of southern Arizona and south through the state of Sonora, Mexico. Like the typical bobwhite they were strictly a field and grass bird. But through the heavy pasturing of that section, together with a series of dry seasons denuding the whole country of such cover as would be necessary for their protection from hawks and vermin, they have become nearly if not quite extinct. They differed from the eastern bobwhite in that the male had a black throat instead of a white one and a bright cinnamon breast. The female differed also in having a light buff throat, and generally of a lighter color.

Order, GALLINAE
Family, TETRAONIDAE
Subfamily, PERDICINAE

Order, GALLINAE
Family, TETRAONIDAE
Subfamily, PERDICINAE

Genus		Species		Common Names		Range and Breeding Grounds
Oreortyx		pictus		Mountain quail		Coast Range of California from Monterey Bay north into Western Oregon.
		pictus plumiferus		Mountain quail		Both sides of the Sierra Nevadas from Central Oregon south. Coast range valleys south from San Francisco Bay into Lower California.
		pictus confinis		Lower California mountain quail		Peninsula of Lower California, inter-grading in the northern part with the pictus plumiferus.
Lophortyx		californicus		Valley quail		Coast Range valleys of California from San Francisco Bay north into Oregon.
		californicus vallicola		Valley quail		Both sides of the Sierra Nevadas from Central Oregon south. Coast range valleys south from San Francisco Bay into Lower California.
		gambeli		Gambel quail Arizona quail		Southern Nevada, Southeastern California, Western Arizona and Northern Mexico.
Callipepla		squamata		Scaled quail		Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico.
		elegans		Elegant quail		Southern Sonora, Mexico.
Cyrtonyx		montezuma		Montezuma quail Messena quail		Southwestern Arizona and south into Mexico.
Colinus		ridgewayi		Masked Bobwhite		Northwestern Sonora, Mexico.
		virginianus		Bobwhite		Introduced and acclimated in Washington and Oregon and the islands of Puget Sound.

THE WILD TURKEY

If there is any member of the feathered tribe entitled to the designation of royal game bird, it is the wild turkey. This magnificent bird, whose size and cunning challenges at once the admiration and the skill of the sportsman, is a native of North and Central America, and found in its wild state in no other part of the globe. The ocellated turkey, the Central American species, is even more gaudy in plumage than the peacock, but as it is not found within the territorial scope of these articles, I shall leave its resplendent colors to scintillate in its own tropic sun, undescribed.

Of the North American turkeys the scientist recognizes four varieties. The Meleagris sylvestris of the eastern states, except Florida, the Meleagris sylvestris osceola of Florida, the Meleagris sylvestris elliotti of the Rio Grande district of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico, and the Meleagris gallopavo of Arizona, New Mexico, part of Colorado, and west and south through the larger portion of old Mexico. It is of this last species that I shall write.

[Pg 32]

THE MEXICAN WILD TURKEY

(Meleagris gallopavo)

Outside of the progenitors of our common barnyard fowl, there is no wild bird that mankind has domesticated whose distribution in its domestic state has become so wide as that of the wild turkey, and none have been so highly prized as an article of food. It is from the Mexican wild turkey, Meleagris gallopavo, that all of our domestic turkeys have descended. First captured in Mexico by the early settlers of that country, they were taken to the West Indies and there domesticated as early as 1527, for Oviedo, in his "Natural History of the Indias," speaks of the wild turkey having been taken from Mexico to the islands and there being bred in a domestic state. From the West Indies they were taken to Spain, France and England, and again brought back to America as domestic fowls. In 1541 they must have been scarce yet in England, for in an edict promulgated by Cranmer in that year, the "turkey cocke" was named as one of "the greater fowles," and which "an ecclesiastic was to have but one in a dishe." By 1573, however, they must have become quite plentiful, for in that year Tusser mentions them as the most approved "Christmas husbandlie fare."

Inasmuch as there were no settlements of either English, French or Spanish in America north of Mexico until 1584, or in that section of the country inhabited by the eastern species of wild turkey until sixty years after the turkey is known to have been introduced into England, the common belief that the eastern species (Meleagris sylvestris) was the foundation of the domestic turkey is clearly an error; but the ornithologist does not find it necessary to consult history to determine the origin of the domestic turkey. That distinguishing feature of the Mexican wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), the broad, light sub-terminal of the rump feathers, is so strong that even after three and a half centuries of domestication, changes in color through selection in breeding, and possibly crossing to some extent with the eastern and Florida species, those markings, peculiar to it alone, are unmistakably present even in the lightest-colored varieties.

As a game bird the turkey has but few equals. Like most of game birds they are comparatively tame and unsuspicious until after they have been hunted, and learned that of all animals man is their greatest foe and most to be dreaded, for whenever he is within sight he is within the range of his instruments of destruction. I have seen the Mexican wild turkey constantly running or flushing in front of us from morning till night as we traveled through their country for days. They showed but little fear, for while we killed all we could eat, we were constantly traveling, so that those that had been introduced to the white man's methods of destroying were left behind us, and those in front of us had yet the lesson to learn; but when the wild turkey has been hunted a little it becomes about as wary, cunning and resourceful as any bird that flies.

The Mexican wild turkey is the largest of the race, and has been, and is yet, the most plentiful. They are strictly mountain dwellers, not often found in altitudes of less than twenty-five hundred to three thousand feet, and more frequently from four to six thousand, and even up to eight thousand feet or more. They are strictly timber dwellers, usually, if not always, living in the pine forests, for I can not call to mind a single instance where I have found them except where pines of some variety were the principal trees. In size, individuals vary a good deal. So, also, will the general average be found to vary as much as ten pounds in different localities. Generally the higher their habitat the larger the birds, some of the old gobblers reaching forty pounds if not more. I remember killing one in the Sierra Madres of northern Mexico that I carried about three miles into camp over a very rough country. By the time I got him there I was willing to bet my last "silver 'dobe" that he weighed a ton. I have also killed some very large ones in the San Francisco mountains of Arizona.

The wild turkey, like the mountain quail, has an up and down mountain migration. In the early spring the hens begin to work up the mountains and seek the densest jungles, and of course the gobblers follow them. The gobblers are polygamous, and have but little respect for their families. They will not only destroy the nests, but even the young birds. For this reason the hens are very secretive in nesting, taking as much care in hiding them away from the gobblers as from their other enemies. As soon as the hens begin setting the gobblers gather in flocks and remain by themselves until joined in the early fall by the hens and their half-grown broods. After this the flocks soon begin their migration to the lower hills and mountain openings, and congregate into immense roosts. Places were once to be seen where they had filled the trees for acres in such numbers as to break the limbs in many instances. In those times and localities they were too tame and too plentiful to afford much amusement to the man who hunted them for sport, but with the exception of some places in Mexico that day has passed, and the sportsman who hunts these grand game birds now will find a quarry worthy of his skill and affording him sufficient exertion to whet his appetite for the delicious feast they furnish him.

Both the habits and the habitat of the wild turkey make the sport of hunting them especially enjoyable. As soon as the gobblers are deserted by the hens they become more wary, and the crack of a twig or the sight of a man, be he ever so far away, and they at once seek cover. Then the keen eye and the noiseless tread of the still hunter is called upon for his best and most careful efforts, for the eyes of these gobblers are quick to catch the slightest move and their ears acute to the faintest sound. The curiosity of a deer often makes him hesitate long enough for the opportunity of a shot, but the gobbler, after the hens have left him, is no longer lured by curiosity. His business is to keep out of sight, and he can do it, after he has once learned the destructiveness of man, just a little more successfully than any other bird or animal that I have ever hunted.

There are no wild turkeys west of the Colorado river, nor on the peninsula of Lower California; but there can be no reason to doubt that, had the mountains of Arizona connected with the pines of the Coast range in San Bernardino county or with the Sierras of Inyo or Kern, the mountains of California would have been as well supplied with turkey as are its valleys with quail.

Color—The color of the wild turkey varies very much except in those that are found in the higher mountains and far away from civilization. Domestication of over three hundred and fifty years has not yet robbed the turkey of its love for the wild and they are often seen long distances away from the farms feeding contentedly. In countries where the wild turkey still existed these tame varieties of various colors have mixed with them, often to such an extent as to change the color very materially. I have seen flocks in Mexico ranging close to ranch houses with turkeys among them so light-colored that they were no doubt tame birds that had wandered away with their wild progenitors.

The wild turkey of Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado is a dark bronze bird with a light-colored rump, caused by the upper tail coverts being tipped with a broad sub-terminal band of white, narrowly tipped with black. The tail feathers are dark brown, spotted with black and tipped with white.

Nest and Eggs—The nest of the wild turkey is generally in a depression in the ground, high up on the mountains, and carefully hidden away in some dense thicket. I cannot call to mind ever seeing but two nests. One of these had but seven eggs while the other had seventeen. The markings are the same as those of the tame turkey.

Measurements—The total length varies from three to four and a half feet; wing 18 to 24 inches.

[Pg 36]

THE MONGOLIAN PHEASANT

(Phasianus torquatus)

While the wild turkey is the only representative of the Phasianidæ found native to the American continent, the Mongolian pheasant has been so successfully acclimatized in Oregon and Washington that it must now be recognized as an established resident species.

After it became an established fact that these pheasants were proving a success in Oregon, there became a demand for their introduction into California, and thousands of dollars were spent for a number of years in an unsuccessful effort to acclimatize them.

The pheasant, like the grouse, is a cold country bird, and the mild and dry climate of California does not appeal to their peculiar tastes or the requirements of their physical being. Oregon, however, possesses the climatic, floral and entomic conditions for which nature has fitted them. Green vegetation lasts during the whole season in which they rear their young, thus furnishing them with that abundance of insects necessary to the health and nourishment of the young chicks. They are endowed with certain physical attributes for which the cold of winter is necessary to preserve a continued healthful condition, and this, too, they find in Oregon. In fact this constitutional demand for the cold of winter has been by nature so strongly implanted within them that the rearing of thirty generations in the comparatively mild climate of Oregon has not effaced it, and obeying this primal instinct they have migrated through Washington and into the better-loved and colder winters of British Columbia.

Therefore, while California undoubtedly may have an abundance of wild turkeys, quail in unlimited numbers and of two or three more species than we have at present, the timber and the plain tinamus of South America, and possibly the sand grouse of southern Europe, she will never have pheasants unless they be of the extreme southern varieties, and never have more than a limited supply of grouse.

North of the mountains of southern Oregon and through Washington into British Columbia pheasants are plentiful and furnish the principal sport of the lovers of upland shooting of that section of the Pacific Coast. The Mongolian pheasant as a game bird has his merits and demerits. As a large, beautiful plumaged bird to grace the game bag the pheasant stands without a rival. As a table bird the pheasant is only surpassed in delicacy of flavor by the wild turkey. As an aggravating runner from the dog the pheasant is in a class by itself, and as an evader of all pursuit when wounded, "the Chinaman," as they are generally called in Oregon, can give odds to the gambel quail. Though the pheasant is a large bird and able to carry off a good deal of shot, it starts so slow to one accustomed to the rapid flight of the California quail that a reasonably fair shot will find no difficulty in getting the limit with a sixteen gauge.

They are slow starters, caused by their habit of rising at an angle of forty-five to fifty degrees until they reach a height of about ten feet before their rapid flight begins, but when once on the wing they are quite swift flyers.

While I have said that the pheasants are aggravating runners, this is principally so in the latter part of the season. In the earlier parts they are commonly found in the stubble fields, potato and other vegetable patches, and usually in single broods. At such times I have found them to lie quite well to the dog, not flushing until closely approached, and running but little except when winged. They are then easy shooting, but the fine size of the bird and the beautiful plumage of the cocks give a zest to the sport and a pleasant distinctiveness which every sportsman will be pleased to add to the list of upland shooting he has engaged in.

To those who wish to spend a season on these handsome birds, Oregon, especially, offers an attraction which goes far beyond its good supply of pheasants. During the open pheasant season the climate of Oregon is as near perfect as one can ask. That season of the eastern states that has been idealized in verse, and is known as Indian summer, finds its superlative in the early fall of Oregon. The sun shines brightly, but with its rays softened by its sub-equinoctial position; the air is mild, clear and invigorating, and the golden hues of the stubble field, the yet bright green of the grassy pastures, the rich tints of the dying autumn leaves, all framed in the blue-green fringe of the near-by pines and firs, produce a picture strikingly beautiful and always enjoyed. It is in this delightful season with such a picture on every side, heightened by an occasional glimpse of some towering mountain peak with its crown of eternal snows, that the sportsman of Oregon lays aside the cares of life and lives in an elysium during his pheasant-shooting days. The setting of the stage is as much to the play as the acting. So with our days after game. The invigorating air we breathe, the beauty of the landscape, the stateliness of the forest, the rugged grandeur of the mountains, the soul-inspiring picture of our dogs on point and back, lends more to the real enjoyment of the day than does the size of the bag we carry home.

Color—Male—The male of the Mongolian pheasant can not be confounded with any other game bird in America. Its very long tail feathers—from fifteen to twenty inches—will always prove a distinguishing mark. Its rich metallic colors of black, cinnamon, chestnut and ocher give it a combination of hues surpassing that of any other of our game birds.

Female—Nor should the female ever be mistaken for any other bird. It partakes much of the general colors of the male, but much subdued and more of a general ochreous hue, the plumage being buff mottled with brown. The tail, however, is not more than one-fourth the length of that of the male.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is generally a depression on the ground, but often in the hollow of some log. The eggs number from 12 to 18 and are of a dark ochre in color.

Measurements—The measurements of a Mongolian pheasant are practically useless on account of the larger portion of it being the tail, which greatly varies in length.

[Pg 40]

MOURNING DOVE (Zenaidura macroura) BANDED PIGEON (Columba faciata) WHITE-WINGED DOVE (Melopelia leucoptera)

THE PIGEONS AND DOVES

The family Columbidæ is represented on the Pacific Coast by three genera which are considered, to more or less extent, legitimate game, though they can not be termed game birds in the generally accepted use of the term. Still as they are hunted to a very considerable extent by the sportsmen of the Coast, they rightfully belong in a work of this kind. I shall, therefore, give them a place, and briefly treat each species that is pursued as game within the territory under consideration.

THE WILD PIGEON

(Columba faciata)

The wild, or banded pigeon, is a mountain dweller, found principally in the southern half of the territory covered by this work. They visit the valleys in the fall and winter months to feed on the oak mast, and at such times they are seen in large flocks in the Sacramento, San Joaquin and coast valleys of California. They are found in good numbers in parts of Arizona, and are common along both sides of the Sierra Madres of Mexico. When visiting the valleys they afford good sport, as they are swift flyers and capable of carrying off a good deal of shot. They have no migrations like the passenger pigeon once so plentiful in the eastern states, nor do they congregate in such immense flocks.

Color—About the same as the darker colored tame pigeon; the tail is a trifle longer than the tame bird and a little lighter than the rest of the plumage with a dark band across the middle of it; a small patch of white feathers at the back of the head. Both sexes are alike.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is built in the trees of small twigs and grass. Two eggs are layed at a time, and a pair of young birds are produced about every six weeks from April to August.

Measurements—A trifle more than the tame pigeon.

THE MOURNING DOVE

(Zenaidura macroura)

The mourning dove is a cosmopolitan species found in greater or less numbers in all sections. They have a slight migratory movement from the higher to the lower altitudes, but they cannot be called a migratory bird. A large number of these birds begin their nesting season in the mountains at altitudes of from 2000 to 4000 feet, raising one brood at that height, then moving down and nesting again, and moving again until they reach the lower valleys, where they remain all winter, congregating in certain places in flocks of hundreds. Many, however, remain in the valleys all the year and nest around the fields and along the streams.

The mourning dove is so well known in every country that a description of it is unnecessary.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is generally built in the small trees and lined with any soft article that they can find. The eggs number two and a pair of the young birds are hatched about every six weeks from May to September.

THE WHITE-WINGED DOVE

(Melopelia leucoptera)

The white-winged dove is nearly one-half larger than the common mourning dove. They range from Mexico through southern Arizona to the Colorado desert in southeastern California. In some parts of Arizona and in Mexico they are found in large numbers, and afford good shooting. Their habits are the same as the common dove, both as to food and nesting, though in parts of Mexico it nests in the pitahaya plants—a species of cactus—of whose fruit it is very fond.

This species can easily be distinguished from any other member of the dove family by the broad patch of white on the wings.

Order, GALLINAE
Family, TETRAONIDAE
Subfamily, TETRAONINAE. (Grouse)

Genus		Species	Common Names		Range and Breeding Grounds
Bonasa		umbellus sabini	Oregon ruffed grouse		Western Oregon and Washington and Northwestern California.
		umbellus togata	Canada ruffed grouse		Eastern sides of Cascade Mountains in Oregon and Washington, thence East.
Centrocercus		urophasianus	Sage hen		Northeastern California, Nevada and the sage lands of Oregon and Washington.
Dendragapus		franklini	Spruce grouse		Western slope of the Cascade Mountains.
		obscurus	Dusky grouse		Northeastern Arizona and Eastern Nevada.
		obscurus fuliginosus	Sooty grouse		Coast Range and Sierras from Southern California to British Columbia.
Pediocaetes		phasianellus columbianus	Sharp-tail hen		Eastern Oregon and Washington and a few in Northeastern California.

THE GROUSE

Within the territorial scope of this work there are seven species of the grouse family, though only four of these are in any way common. As the wild turkey is confined to the southern extremity of the Pacific Coast hunting grounds, so are the grouse principally found in the northern sections. I have met with a few dusky grouse (Dendragapus obscurus) in the mountains of Arizona, but they are by no means plentiful. There were a few and possibly is yet an occasional sooty grouse (Dendragapus obscurus fuliginosus) in the mountains of southern California, but grouse in sufficient numbers to furnish any kind of sport are not found much south of Yosemite valley in the Sierras, or south of Humboldt county in the Coast range. An occasional pair or small flock, however, may be met with considerable south of the points named.

The grouse is a northern bird, extending into far colder regions than any other subfamily of the gallinaceous group. The ptarmigan, of course, are grouse.

[Pg 42]

THE SOOTY GROUSE

(Dendragapus obscurus fuliginosus)

The sooty grouse, commonly called blue grouse by the sportsmen of California, are reasonably plentiful in the Sierras from the Yosemite north into Oregon, where they are quite plentiful, and from there through Washington into Alaska. It is a mountain dweller, being found at altitudes fully 9000 feet above the sea. In the winter it descends to lower latitudes, but seldom below 3000 feet. It is naturally a confiding bird where it has not been hunted much, and for this reason has been given the name, "fool hen," in many localities. But like most of the feathered tribe, it soon learns the destructiveness of man, and after gaining this knowledge it is quite able to take care of itself. When flushed it flies with a cackling sound, generally taking refuge in the tall pines, where it is an expert hider. In the nesting season it produces a drumming sound and struts like a turkey. This drumming is produced by inflating an air sack on each side of the neck. Later in the season these sacks dry up and nearly disappear. It's only migrations are ascending and descending the mountains with the seasons.

According to a published statement of the Section of Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture, the food of the sooty grouse consists of buds, seeds, leaves and insects, of which 68 per cent is leaves, buds and the tender ends of young twigs; 6.73 per cent insects and the balance seeds, berries and the like. The flesh is generally of a fine flavor, though at times it will be found to be tainted a little strongly with the flavor of the pine.

Color—Male—Back of head, back of neck and all upper parts, a sooty brown; light streak over the eye and a light throat; breast, a dead or sooty black; the rest of the under parts a slaty gray; tail tipped with gray.

Female—Generally lighter in color but otherwise resembling the male.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is usually nothing more than a depression in the ground among dried leaves or grass, well concealed from view. The eggs, which average about a dozen, are of a cream color, spotted with brown.

Measurements—Total length, from 18 to 22 inches; wing, 9 to 9 ¹/₂. The weight will vary from 2 ¹/₂ to 4 pounds.

[Pg 46]

THE OREGON RUFFED GROUSE

(Bonasa umbellus sabini)

The Oregon ruffed grouse is the handsomest species of the ruffed grouse genus, and is truly a beautiful bird with its deep, rich browns, orange and black. The eastern species of this genus is wrongly known in the north Atlantic states by the name of partridge, and as wrongly called pheasant in Virginia and some other of the southern states. The Pacific Coast species ranges from northern California along the Coast range through Oregon, Washington and far into British Columbia. It is a wary bird, full of cunning and gamy qualities. The male of this genus is, I believe, the only member of the grouse family that drums all the year; all others confining their drumming to the nesting season. This drumming is made with the wings and not by the inflation of an air sack as with other species. The sound, also, is much different, having more of a rolling reverberation. In the spring they will take their position on some rock or dead log and strut back and forth with their heads thrown back and their tails spread out to show the beautiful hues of the feathers and drum for hours to attract the hens or challenge the other males to an almost life and death combat, in which they fight in the same manner as the game cock. They live among the pines, usually near some little opening where they are fond of feeding. When startled they take at once to the timber and are quickly lost to view. For this reason dogs are almost useless in hunting them. They are never found in numbers greater than a single brood, even though the brood may be decimated by the gun of the sportsman or the cunning of the vermin to no more than two or three.

The flesh of the ruffed grouse is white and generally tender and of fine flavor, although in the late fall or winter when its food consists almost wholly of fir buds it tastes quite strong of turpentine. Its food generally is about the same as the sooty grouse and in about the same percentages.

Color—Head, light chestnut, the feathers on the top being long and capable of erection when excited; a tuft of long, rich brown feathers will be found on each side of the neck; back, reddish chestnut mottled with black; rump and tail-coverts, more of a cinnamon color blotched with dark brown; flanks, lighter and barred with black; tail, rusty brown barred with deep brown and tipped with two bands of gray, separated by a streak of black; under tail-coverts, orange, barred with black and tipped with white; wing feathers, brown with a central stripe of light yellow.

The female is marked the same but somewhat lighter in coloring.

Nest and Eggs—The nest, like that of all the gallinaceous birds, is made on the ground and hidden away in some thick cluster of brush or beneath some log. The eggs are of a buff color spotted with dark brown, and number from ten to fifteen.

Measurements—Total length from 16 to 19 inches; wing about 7 or 8 inches. Weight about 2 pounds.

THE CANADIAN RUFFED GROUSE

(Bonasa umbellus togata)

The Canadian ruffed grouse ranges through the eastern side of the Cascade mountains of Oregon and Washington, but does not pass over to the Pacific side. It resembles the Oregon ruffed grouse very closely except that it is much lighter in color, and the female either lacks the tufts of feathers on the neck entirely, or where present, they are very small. Like the Oregon species it is a dweller in the heavy timber, and follow the same habits in most all respects. It is of a more confiding nature, however, often sitting unconcerned upon a tree while several of its companions are being shot, making no effort to get away or save itself from the same fate.

Color—The color of this species is more of a grayish brown than the Oregon species, and lacking that rich chestnut that adds so much to the beauty of the latter. The brown markings, however, are possibly a little more conspicuous. The upper tail feathers are more of a blue, mottled and barred with a blackish brown. A large tuft of feathers on each side of the neck of a smoky brown, edged with metallic green. Unlike the Oregon species these feathers are entirely absent or very small on the female.

Nest and Eggs—The nest and eggs are the same as the Oregon grouse.

Measurements—In size the two species do not vary to any considerable extent.

THE SPRUCE GROUSE

(Dendragapus franklini)

The spruce or Franklin grouse of Oregon and Washington is a species of the Canadian spruce grouse, and ranges diagonally through the mountains of eastern Oregon and Washington, and thence to the coast of British Columbia. It confines its habitat to the higher mountains, being seldom found below an elevation of four to five thousand feet. This is another of the grouse family that has been given the name of "fool hen," on account of its naturally tame nature. When sitting on the limb of a tree, but a few feet above the ground, it considers itself safe from all harm and makes little effort to escape, and may often be killed with a stick. There is little sport in shooting this variety. The food of this species, like all other mountain dwelling grouse, is buds, tender shoots and seeds, berries and insects when obtainable.

Color—Male—Upper parts gray, the central back and the wings having a brownish hue; the tail-coverts, which are tipped with broad splashes of white is a distinguishing feature of this species; feathers, on the flanks tipped broadly with white, throat, black, imperfectly edged with white; tail, nearly square at the end and of a brownish color.

Female—Considerably more of an ochreous cast. It has the same characteristic broad white tips on the feathers of the flanks; tail, dirty ochre, mottled with black and narrowly tipped with white.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is a depression in the ground in some secluded place and lined with leaves or grass. The eggs, averaging about a dozen, are of a reddish buff mottled with brown.

Measurements—Total length about 15 inches; wing about 7 inches. Weight from one and a half to two pounds.

THE SAGE HEN

(Centrocercus urophasianus)

The sage grouse, or sage hen is the largest of the grouse of America, some of the males weighing as much as seven pounds. Its range, so far as the geographical scope of this work is concerned, is northeastern California, Nevada, and eastern Oregon and Washington, but it extends much farther east. It is only found in the sage brush districts of the high altitudes. They usually remain in single broods, though they are sometimes found in much larger flocks. They often travel for considerable distances, "following the leader" in single file. They strut in the nesting season, but in a peculiar way, pushing their breasts on the ground until the feathers are worn off and even the skin abraded.

A peculiarity of the sage grouse is that it has no gizzard, but instead it has a stomach more like that of an animal. The young birds lie quite well to a dog and furnish very good sport, and until they are about half grown the flesh is quite good, but the older birds are very unsavory and in fact almost unpalatable. This is caused by their feeding almost entirely upon the leaves of the sage.

Color—Male—Upper parts, gray, barred with brown; tail, very long, the longer feathers being quite narrow and stiff and barred also with brown; a dark line over the eye and a light one from the eye down the side of the neck; throat and cheeks, nearly white, mottled with black; a few long hairy like feathers grow from the side of the neck of the male birds.

Female—The female is colored and marked like the male but considerably darker, is much smaller, with shorter tail and without the hairy feathers on the side of the neck.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is nothing more than a hollow in the midst of some bunch of brush, possibly lined with a few leaves. The eggs are from twelve to eighteen in number and of a greenish shade, mottled with bright brown, but these spots are easily rubbed off.

Measurements—Male—Total length from 24 to 28 inches; wing, 12 to 14. Weight, from four to seven pounds.

Female—Total length, from 20 to 22 inches; wing, 10 to 12. Weight, from three to five pounds.

[Pg 50]

COLUMBIAN SHARP-TAILED GROUSE

(Pediocætes phasianellus columbianus)

The Columbian sharp-tailed grouse is the "prairie chicken" of eastern Washington. It is far different from the pinated grouse (Tympanuchus) of the middle states, commonly called prairie chicken. Its habitat is much the same, however, being the open plains and untimbered foothills east of the Cascade mountains in Washington and through eastern Oregon into northern Nevada, and the extreme northeastern corner of California. The sharp-tail grouse has the same habit of strutting in large groups like the prairie chicken at the beginning of the nesting season. They do not drum, however, like the eastern bird, but make a noise more like an attempt to crow. They also take refuge in the timber for protection from the storms of winter.

During the hunting season they lie well to a dog and afford fine shooting. The food of the sharp-tailed grouse consists of about ten per cent insects, the balance being made up of seeds, grains and berries, with a good percentage of "brouse" in the winter.

Color—Male—Side of head and throat, pale buff with mottlings of brown on the cheeks; back and wings, gray, mottled with black; breast, light buff. Under parts, white with lines of dark brown; central tail feathers long and pointed; no long feathers on the neck.

Female—Resembles the male with the exception that the tail feathers are not so long.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is a rude affair on the ground, lined with a little dead grass and generally contains from ten to fifteen eggs of a greenish buff speckled with fine dots of brown.

Measurements—Total length from 14 to 16 inches, with the wing about eight; the central tail feathers are about five inches in length. The average bird will weigh about two pounds.

Order ANSERES

Subfamily, ANSERENAE - Geese

Genus		Species		Common Names		Range. (All breed far north.)
Chen		hyperborea		White goose (large)		From Southern California north.
		rossi		Ross' goose Small white goose		From Mexico north.
Anser		albifrons gambeli		White-fronted goose Gray goose		From Mexico north.
Dendrocygna		fulva		Fulvous tree duck Mexican tree duck Cavalier		From Central California south through Mexico. Breeds from Central California to Central Mexico.
Branta		canadensis		Canada goose Honker		From central Mexico north.
		canadensis hutchinsii		Hutchins' goose		From Southern California north.
		canadensis occidentalis		White-cheeked goose		Inland plains from Central California north.
		canadensis minima		Black brant Cackling goose		From Southern California north.
		nigricans		Black sea brant		On certain bays from Magdalena, Lower California north.
Philacte		canagica		Emperor goose		A rare visitor south of Humboldt Bay, California.

Subfamily, CYGNINAE - Swans

Genus		Species		Common Names		Range. (All breed far north.)
Olor		columbianus		Whistling swan		From Oregon north. Rarely as far south as Central California.
		buccinator		Trumpeter swan		From Southern California north.

THE WATERFOWL

The great variety of the waterfowl of the Pacific Coast, the wonderful numbers in which they are found and the excellent shooting they afford, forms a subject, which, to do it justice, would require the space of an ordinary volume.

With the exception of the Gulf tier of the Southern states, waterfowl on the Atlantic Coast are but birds of passage, tarrying for a time on their way to milder winter quarters; tourists loitering for a day or two at attractive by-stations as they wing their way south in the fall and again on their return north in the spring. They are leaving the isolation of the far north or the mountain lakes and marshes where they spent the summer rearing their young and they are seeking more favorable feeding grounds in the milder climate of the South, where animal and vegetable life is not in the state of hibernation which prevents it from furnishing them with an abundance of food during their southern sojourn.

Over the larger portion of our hunting grounds what is the beginning of the calendar year is in fact the beginning of our spring. When the frost king lays his hand upon all vegetable and insect life in the East, spreading his white shroud over field and pasture and breaking with his icy sleet from the vine and the brush their clinging leaves; when from the trees have fallen the last vestige of their autumnal crowns of gold and crimson; when the last flower has shed its petals; when the last hum of insect is heard and the last song of bird has died away on the southern horizon—'tis then the early rains of the Coast start the new sown grain in the fields, give life again to the grasses of the plains, carpet the foothills and the valleys with the gold and purple and crimson of innumerable flowers, and our veritable spring commences.

With us, therefore, waterfowl are not passing pilgrims, tarrying for a few days only as they rest and feed on their way to the open waters and green pastures in which they intend to pass those months marked winter on the calendar of the year. They are not mere hurrying flocks alighting now and again as they wing their way back to their breeding grounds in the spring But ours is the Mecca to which they journey; ours the feeding grounds on which they assemble from the lakes and marshes of the Arctic; from the whole chain of the Aleutian Islands; from the inland seas of British Columbia and from the mountain lakes of our own Sierras from Washington to Mexico. Here on the bays, estuaries and marshes of the coast and the lakes and ponds of the valleys, throughout the whole length of these hunting grounds, countless millions of these birds have found their winter feeding grounds for unnumbered ages. No cold, no ice, no snow, no howling blizzards to stop them in their search for food or disturb their midday rest upon our quiet waters. In warmth they feed upon the tender shoots of the young grasses that fringe their watery haunts or bask in sunshine on the sandy shores.

It is the popular impression that all ducks breed in the far north and migrate from there south. One has only to shoot on the lakes of Mexico to learn how erroneous this impression is, for one will meet varieties quite common there that rarely if ever reach the southern boundaries of the United States.

The masked duck (Nomonyx dominicus) is a purely southern species reaching Mexico only in its breeding season. The three species of the Mexican tree duck, quite common in that country, come but little into the United States. One of these, the black-bellied tree duck (Dendrosygna autumnalis) migrates to some little extent into Texas and to less extent into New Mexico and Arizona. The fulvous tree duck (Dendrosygna fulva) extends its migrations still farther north, breeding to considerable extent in Arizona and southern California, but rarely seen as far north as the center of the state. The other species of the genus (Dendrosygna elegans), for which I know no English name, is even rare as far south as southern Jalisco. The cinnamon teal is a southern duck, breeding in Arizona, Texas and southern California but so rarely seen north of San Francisco that a gentleman who had killed a straggler near Marysville, when showing it to me, said that he couldn't find a man in the town who could tell him what it was. Yet the cinnamon teal is very common in Mexico and Arizona and quite plentiful in southern California in the spring, before the flocks break up and the birds seek their nesting places.

Northern bred ducks and purely northern species visit us in great numbers during the winter months, and to these must be added the vast number of these birds that breed in the mountains throughout our hunting grounds.

The ornithologist divides the ducks into two subfamilies; the fresh-water ducks forming the subfamily, Anatinæ, and the salt-water ducks the subfamily, Fullgilinæ. These two families can easily be distinguished by their feet. If a salt-water duck, the hind toe will be found to have a small web or flap on the under side, but if the bird belongs to the fresh-water group, the toe will be as clean as any land bird.

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THE MALLARD

(Anas boschas)

The mallard is possibly the best known duck in America, it being found in greater or less numbers everywhere from the Arctic to Central America. It is a resident species throughout the Pacific Coast, breeding on the mountain lakes and streams from Mexico to Alaska, and even to a considerable extent on the lower marshes of California, Oregon and Washington. On the fresh water ponds and overflows they congregate in great numbers during the winter months and a bag limit of twenty is no uncommon thing. Like all of the fres-hwater ducks of this Coast, they, too, are often found in considerable numbers on the tide lands and salt marshes.

The mallard of the Pacific Coast can hardly be said to be a migratory duck, for it breeds from Mexico north. Its migrations consisting more of altitudinal movements than of longitudinal. While it breeds on the mountain lakes of Mexico, it is rarely seen in the higher altitudes during the winter months.

Hybrids between the mallard and the pin-tail and the mallard and the widgeon have been occasionally met with on the marshes of the Coast. This is most likely caused by the mating of cripples that had not the strength to make the flight to their usual breeding grounds.

Color—Male—Head and neck, dark green with a metallic luster; white ring around the neck at the bottom of the green; back, gray; breast, chestnut brown; under parts dirty white; tail, black with two feathers curled upwards; speculum, ([see diagram]) purple, bordered with black and white.

Female—Head, dark buff; breast, lighter buff with brown mottlings; legs, orange colored; speculum same as the male; bill, yellow, blotched with brown.

Nest and Eggs—The nest is placed on the ground and lined with grass, feathers and down. The eggs number eight to a dozen and are of a greenish tinge.

Measurements—Male—Total length, from 20 to 25 inches; wing, 10 to 12 inches; bill, 2 ¹/₂ inches.

Female—Total length, from 18 to 20 inches; wing, 9 to 10 inches; bill, 2 to 2 ¹/₄ inches.

[Pg 56]

THE GADWALL

(Anas strepera)

The gadwall was at one time quite plentiful on the shooting grounds of California, south of San Francisco; but, on account of our season opening later and closing earlier than in years past, few are killed now. The gadwall is really a southern duck, coming into the United States to breed. When the California season opened on the first of September and closed the first of April, there were plenty of gadwall found on its ponds in the early fall and late in the spring. Now, but few are killed except in the southern part of the state. Such as are killed are generally found on the mountain lakes and ponds of the higher valleys. On the waters of Mexico and Lower California, however, they are met with in good numbers.

The gadwall, however, migrates as far north as British Columbia for breeding purposes as well as breeding on the mountain lakes of all the territory through which it ranges.

Color—Male—Head, light brown, finely mottled with dark brown and black; neck and breast, finely streaked with wavy black and white; under parts, grayish white; rump and tail, black; speculum, black and white, with the lesser wing-coverts chestnut; feet, orange, and bill nearly white.

Female—Closely resembling the male but with very little chestnut on the wings.

Nest and Eggs—The nest which is usually made a little way back from the water is lined with dead grass, and contains from ten to twelve eggs of a light buff color.

Measurements—Total length, about 19 inches; wing, 10, and bill, 1.60.

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