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GAME BIRDS

AND

GAME FISHES

OF THE

PACIFIC COAST

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.

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.

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 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 QUAIL

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.

THE MOUNTAIN QUAIL

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, 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

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

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.

THE CALIFORNIA VALLEY QUAIL

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 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 , 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.

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.

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 plume is dirty brown, about half the length of the male's and nearly straight.

THE GAMBEL QUAIL

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.

THE SCALED QUAIL

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.

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.

THE CHESTNUT-BELLIED SCALE QUAIL

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.

THE ELEGANT QUAIL

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.

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.

THE MASSENA OR MONTEZUMA QUAIL

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