Page:Condor5(5).djvu/6

 Svr., [903 I THE CONDOR they obviate by squatting: the Gambel partridge, chestnut-bellied scaled quail, the European partridge and others; and Mearns quail has this same thing only to a greater extent. He chooses the densest and deepest brush cover [or a retreat, and like th meadowlark keeps his wonderfully graded back toward the danger-side. The illustration" from Mr. Bailey's photograph shows how easily he becomes in- c?nspicuous by this simple trick, and it is fair to attribute his black ventral mark- ings to other causes than that of direct protection when offset by the facts of his chosen cover and the remarkably protective character of his upper parts. And like many other sharply marked creatures, the very contrasts which look so con- spicuous when seen in the hand, isolated from the sharp lights and shadows of the natural environment, serve to so 'cut up' the creature that in nature all semb- lance of a bird is lost; the head is cut from the body, and then reduced to a non- committal jumble, which is one with what lies beyond. In the gulch near where we were camped was a lovely little mountain brook, coming from a seep-basin high in the mountains, tumbling as a thread-like fall from a tall cliff at the head of the gulch, a mile above camp. In the canyon were noble jack oaks, gnarly arbutus trees, and a few nut-studded pines, and upon the steep talus slope stood a splen- did grove of tall conifers. This place was naturally the center of bird life, and here we found for the first time within our borders the Couch jay (Aibhelocoma sieberi couchi). Stephens whip-poor-wills (Antrostomus v. macromyslax), and band-tailed pigeons (Columbafasciata) were here, and numbers of 'carpinteros,' the noisy and sociable ant-eating woodpeckers (,gelanerpes formicivorus). Oc- casionally a big blue-throated hummer (Celi- gena demencie) would come skitfling up the gulch, for all the world like a little swift, uttering his sharp little squeak every two seconds. Perhaps he would alight on the dead lower twigs of a drooping pine branch, and jumble his squeaks together into a kind of little song: more likely he would zip by like a bullet and disappear up the gulch. These and many other rare and interesting birds made me temporarily neglect the quail, after a few more failures, and Ileft the Chisos without a single bird. But my hope was yet young, and as we moved up toward the Davis mountains I had visions of a brace. These, like the first, failed to materialize, as did those which [ harbored for the Sacramento in New Mexico. Late in the summer we left Carlsbad, New Mexico, with our outfit, heading fi,r the Guadaloupe mountains, the "Walloopias" of the natives, for our last mountain work of the season. Up we went from the Pecos desert into the juniper-clad foot-hills, where we camped our first night. In the morning I looked around, and was surprised at what I saw. Indeed, I rubbed my eyes to see if I a. For the use of this and the photograph of the Chisos. Mr& acknowledgements are due to Mr. Vernon Bailey, and the Biological Survey.--D.