Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1893-12-06
QUEER BIRDS AND BEASTS.
Some Odd Freaks cf Nature in the Paci-
fic Southwest.

fic Southwest.
A dispatch from Yuma, Ari. T., says:
Waite 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
below San Diego, where it lived for
three years and where many efforts
were made to capture it alive, but in
vain. 1t was pure white, with eyes of a
pinkish hue, but not shade of any
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 were
pure white One had feather in each
wing that was of 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
rations. Often would they come within
two or three feet of the one watching
them, unaware that they were almost
within reach of human hands. All at
tempts to snare. trap or catch them
alive proved unaNailing, 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 a dark
! leather 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 l watched them carefully
for months, whether the white quail
nested and raised their young or not.
When living in 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 rattIesnake is found to be
of the same color as the ground, brush
and rocks where it lives. In the coal
black loan of Nallecitos l 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 l 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 Paci-
tic, 120 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 its body. On the very brink of the
ocean my mule suddenly stopped and
| refused to go or turn. By her actions |
hot l-n
alighted, and in the deer trail,
just 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 forked
stick, which l placed just behind its
| head, took a silken cord and put its
moose around the neck Of the snake and
soon he was inside tin can which |
carried for the purpose. When [
reached my camp at night l changed
the white beauty from its tin home into
a jar of alcohol, to be looked at and to
become the wonder Of scores,,wh never
before saw white rattlesnake. ] have
seen many that were a light gray,
almost white, but none just like my
little beauty, with his five rattles and
| button.
As one goes south from Yuma or from
San Quentin, on the Pacific, all of the
birds change colors. The black and
yellow hawk are never seen. All the
hawks, even the owls, change, or are
the color Of the mourning dove-a
purple or grevish blue.
At Montague Island, one of the
loveliest places Oh the Pacific coast for
an ll.the-year-round resort, for health
or pleasure. white ducks, curlew and
snipe are found in great abundance.
Some Of these are pure white, others
have one, sometimes two black or gray
feathers in each wing; a few have five
or six The Colorado turkeys are white
with black feather or two in each
wing.