. The game birds of California . In some respects they are very stupid birds, in others, quitethe reverse. When they are going from their summer to their winter resorts,birds of a flock can all, or nearly all, be shot if the flock can be turned fromits course and scattered. They soon begin to call together and will nearlyalways respond to a hunters imitation of their call. The loud, pleasing call ofthe male in breeding season is not easily imitated nor described, though appar-ently consisting of a single note, which is sometimes varied a little. Barlow and Price (1901, pp. 158-160) say that: B
. The game birds of California . In some respects they are very stupid birds, in others, quitethe reverse. When they are going from their summer to their winter resorts,birds of a flock can all, or nearly all, be shot if the flock can be turned fromits course and scattered. They soon begin to call together and will nearlyalways respond to a hunters imitation of their call. The loud, pleasing call ofthe male in breeding season is not easily imitated nor described, though appar-ently consisting of a single note, which is sometimes varied a little. Barlow and Price (1901, pp. 158-160) say that: By the first of September the quail are restless and are beginning theirpeculiar vertical migration to the west slope of the mountains. Sometimes fourto six adults with their young will form a covey of ten to thirty individualsand pursue their way, almost wholly on foot, along the ridges to a morecongenial winter climate. By Oct. 1 the quail have almost abandoned the UNIV. CALIF, SEMICENT, PUBL. LGRINNELU BRYANT, STORERj PL. 14. MOUNTAIN QUAIL MOUNTAIN QUAIL 511 elevations above 5000 feet. In the fall the woodland is full of the disconsolatepeeps and whistling call notes of the young who have strayed from theirooveys. In the early spring and summer the quail begin their upward journey,not in flocks, but usually in pairs or singly, ascending as fast as the snow meltsfrom the ground. At this mating season their rich, clear whistle is continuallyheard, though at no time during the year are they quiet. Belding (1903, p. 18) has more to say with regard to the migra-tion of Mountain Quail: The fall migration . . appears to be influenced but little by the food sup-ply or temperature in its summer habitat in the Sierras, which it appears toleave because the proper time has arrived for its annual tramp down the westslope. The first flocks start about the first of September, or sometimes two orthree days sooner. At Webber Lake after three cold, cloudy days, they beganto move westward Augu
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