Altho sometimes found in open country the MOUNTAIN QUAIL prefers wooded ravines and hillsides where their clear sweet calls seem perfectly in tune with the remote fastnesses. The cheery quit-quit-quit-keeah call is sometimes followed by a bantam roosterlike crow. Young birds usually will evade danger by bursting like a bombshell into the air but older ones depend upon their legs, running beyond gunshot before taking wing.
The extent of migration is governed by winter temperature and is merely a descent on foot into the vallies. In spring they return to higher altitudes by the same leisurely method of locomotion.
In size and coloration they closely resemble the Hungarian Partridge recently introduced into the Eastern States.
Pacific coast region from southwestern Washington to Monterey county, California.