The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-08
ALBINo BIRDS, SNAKES AND
BEASTS.
Some Queer Freaks of Nature in the
Pacific Southwest.


From the St. Louis Globe D Democrat.
Yuma, Ariz,, Sept. 18.-White quail
have been known here since 1877. That
year one was seen in Central California,
and another was seen in the Vale de las
Palmas, fifty miles below San Diego,
where it lived for three years and
where many 1efforts were made to
capture it alive, but in vain. Scores Of
people saw it. 1t was pure white, with
eyes of pinkish hue, but not shade of
any other color upon it.
In 1881 the writer saw five other white
quail a 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 theother quail with which they ran.
| Their haunts were found place cleared,
and daily ground wheat, barley, rice, sage,
cracked corn, and seeds were scattered
/ where the quail came for water A hid
ing place was made in the thick bush ad-
joining, 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 watch
ing them, unaware that they were almost
in reach of human hands. All attempts
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. I could never learn
though 1 watched them carefully for
months, whether the white quail nestled
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 dob
white" quail of the east
1t is said, and generally found to be true,
that the rattlesnake is found to be the
same color as the ground, bush, and rocks
where it lives In the coal-black loan of
Vallecitos found them almost jet black,
the acknowledged spots on their backs
and sides being lined with white. In the
deep red-color soils of the iron regions
found them red, the lines of the diamonds
being jet black In the yellow clay hills
they were also yellow as ochre, the line
on them being nearly red. On the pen
insula of San Quentin, next to the Pacif-
ic, 100 miles south of San Diego, found
pure white rattlesnake, with the ex-
ception of the very small fine lines of
black that marked the diamond spots en-
its body. On the very brink of the ocean
my mule suddenly stopped and re-
fused to 90 on or to turn around. BY her
actions knew that q rattlesnahe was
near. alighted, and in the deer trail,
just ahead of my mule, there lay the
snake whittier than the oceans sands, In
fact, almost as white as the snow. The
I air was cool, the snake stupid. / cut a
forked stick, which placed Just behind its
head, took a silken cord and put its noos g
around the neck of the snake, and soon he
was inside tin can which l carried for
the purpose When ] reached my camp
at night changed the white beauty from
his tin home into jar of alcohol, to be
looked at to become the wonder of scores
! who never before saw white rattle
snakes / have seen many that We're a
| light gray almost white, but none just
! like my little beauty with its five rattles
| and button.
! The coyote of the west is similar to the
! little prairie wolf of the east Those
| that live in valleys and ON the plains are
I Of a light gray color, at times changing to
/ a yellowish tinge, while those that live in
/ the mountains are all very dark brown.
( Near Ensenda, in Lower California, two
! Of my men encountered a very large
| coyote which was marked with great
! spots of pure black and white. For sew
eral months he lived within two miles of
town, hunting fish and mussels along
! the seashore at low tide, unusually living
under a bridge on the wagon road
that led to San Diego. l saw him
few times near at hand, when l
! had no rife with me, and once not
more than fifty yards away, so that
| know that he was full-blooded coyote.
| A hundred miles further south, one day,
l met, face to face coyote as black as
the blacklist dog l ever saw; in fact
| thought it must be n dog Several times
| afterward met the same one, or another
| Just as black. He was not afraid, and
would stand and watch me and my mule
thirty to fifty feet away. He would run
| If | chased-him, but stop when l did, and
| follow me back to where | Just saw
him. Two hundred miles further south l
saw two that were nearly white, perhaps
would have been so had they been washed
up in good shape. As one travels to the
southwark they grow holder and more
mischievOus.
Two hundred miles, little west of
south of Yuma on the west side Of the
Gulf of California, as we were passing
down Palm canon on the gulf side of the
Tenaja range of mountains, and when in
sight of the blue waters of the gulf. our
III ALAtH oAAtNOiAS oAbpPCh anu 4obhlilk 10 tue
south we saw seven white deer, as white
as any COW or horse one ever saw. They
were about 500 yards away. We halted
in the shade of the great canon, and
watched them for fifteen minutes or
more. While doing so five noun
tain sheep passed US a few yards
away, and, ascending the bench Of rocks
where the deer still stood, they turned
| around, as II 10 take look at US We
started on slowly leading our mules. and
had advanced more than half the distance
| that separated us, when the deer moved
OF on a slow trot and then on walk. aud
passed around the point out Of sight,
while the mountain sheep pointed crag
after crag, and peak after peak, until
! they were on the very summit Of the
range, 5000 feet above US. where they
! L.Lunn .H.unL md A-aL-L.L m. On. =