Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1893-12-07
QUEER BIRDS AND BEASTS
some Odd Freaks of Nature i'm tho
hc Southwest

oAhDo AMI BEASTS.
''''ie ood Freaks of Nature in the Pact
fc Southwest.
WI, a ulspatch from Yuma, Ari. T.. saws.
" bite quail have been known here
since 1877. That year one was seen IN
central California, and another was
seen IN Vale de las Palmas, fifty miles
| neloW San Diego, where it lived for
three years and where many efforts
were made to capture it alive, but in
VAN: 1t was pure white, with eyes of a
other color upon it.
In 1881 the writer saw five other white
quail few miles further south. at the
Real del Castillo. Four of these we're
pure white. One had feather in each
wing that was of a dark brown color.
The little band all had eyes of the same
color as the other quail with which
they ran. Their haunts were found. a
place cleared, and daily ground wheat.
barley, rice, sage, cracked corn and
,, seeds were scattered where The quail
came for water. A hiding place was
made in the thick brush adjoining,
where the writer often hid in order to
watch them as they came daily for their
ratlons. Often would they come within
two or three feet of the one Watching
within reach of human hands All at
tempts to snare. trap or catch them
| alive proved unavailing, though an old
Mexican spent much time for two years
IN trying to trap them. Four
years ago, on the mountain side of
the great valley of the Colorado, others
were seen. All of these but two, one
with pinkish eyes, and one with dark
! feather in each wing, resembled closely
their associates in gray or brown. They
were always together, and seemed to
take the same interest in the new broods
! that the other quail did. Icould never
learn, though | watched them carefully
| for months, whether the white quail
nested and raised their young or not
| When living in a band of twenty-five or
fifty, in the spring they seemed to care
for the little ones the same. The quail
of the Pacific Coast, though about the
size, is an entirely different bird from
the Bob White" quail of the East.
1t is said, and generally found to be
true, that the rattlesnake is found to be
of the same color as the ground, brush
and rocks where it lives. In the coal
black loan of Vallecitos | found them
, almost jet black, the diamond-shaped
spots on their backs and sides being
lined with white. In the deep red
colored soils of the iron regions | found
then red, the lines of the diamonds be-
ing jet black. In the yellow clay hills
! they were as yellow as ochre, the lines
on them being nearly red. On the pen
| insula of San Quentin, next to the Pacl-
| fic, 100 miles south of San Diego, |
found a pure white rattlesnake, with
| exception of the very small, fine lines
of black that marked the diamond spots
on it's body. On the very brink of the
ocean my mule suddenly stopped AND
refused to go or turn. By her actions |
| knew that a rattlesnake was near. |
alighted, and in the deer trall,
| lust ahead of my mule, there
lay the snake whittier than the
| oceans sands, in fact, almost
| most as white as snow. The air was
| cold. the snake stupid. [ cut a forked
stick, which [ placed just behind its
| head, took a silken cord and put Its
moose around the neck of the snake and
| soon he was inside a tin can which |
carried for the purpose. When l
reached my camp at night changed
| the white beauty from it's tim home INTO
2 lar of alcohol, to be looked at and to
become the wonder of scores. who never
| before saw white rattlesIake., nave
seen many that were Hgnt gray
almost white. but none Just IKE my
little beauty, with his tive rattles anu
| button.
As one coessoutb from Guma or from
San Ouentin. ON the Pacific, all of the
birds change colors- The black ana
vellov hawk are never seen. All the
hawks, even the owls, change, or are
the color of the mourning dove-a
purple or greEish blue - +ho
At Montague Island, one OF the
loveliest places Oh the Pacific coast Tor
an ali. the-year-round resort, tor health q
or Measure. white ducks, curleW, and
snipe are found in great abundance e:
Some Of these are pure white, others
have one, sometimes two BLACK OF or gray E y
feathers in each wing; few nave hve
or six. The Colorado turkeys are w NV
with black feather or wv" LII e"'n