File:American game-bird shooting (1910) (14755433525).jpg

Identifier: americangamebird00grin (find matches)
Title: American game-bird shooting
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Grinnell, George Bird, 1849-1938
Subjects: Game and game-birds Hunting
Publisher: New York, Forest and stream publishing company
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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t littlenorth of the Willamette Valley, Oregon, but they grad-ually worked down the south side of the ColumbiaRiver, toward Astoria, and in 1872 I was informed thatsome of these birds, shot at Kalama, Washington, werethe first seen north of the Columbia. A crate oftrapped birds sent to the Seattle market were, sometime afterward, purchased by the Young NaturalistsSociety and set free. These have since multiplied nice-ly, and others have been sent to Whidbey Island, fortymiles north of Seattle, where I understand they arealso doing well. A covey wintered in a barn lot withthe hens just at the outskirts of Seattle this winter. Quite a number were also liberated near VancouverBarracks, and did well. It is a moisture-loving species,and delights in a country where the rainfall is heavy.The paler race of this species is found in the drier re-gions of the Sierra and some of the desert ranges. This is quite an abundant species, found high up onthe mountains in summer, and also low down toward
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MOUNTAIN QUAIL 79 the desert in winter. It is said that in spring many fol-low up the snows as they melt, spending the summerhigh up on the mountains, and then in the autumn re-turn down the slopes, below the point where snow lies.The birds have a call not very unlike that of the bob-white, a whistle of three syllables, and the attitude as-sumed by the male while calling is not unlike that ofthe common quail, the wings being drooped and thepoint of the bill raised. The food consists of insects,seeds, berries, and the buds and tops of tender plants.In the early spring they feed so much on the tops ofthe wild garlic—one of the first green things to appear—that the flesh sometimes tastes of the plant. This quail is a prolific breeder, the eggs usually vary-ing in number from 9 to 15, though sometimes theyare much more numerous, a nest containing 19 eggsbeing reported, as also a brood of 20 young birds. Thetime of nesting varies from early April to late May.The eggs are white. In nort

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