R.J. Pratt 1956 Journal Mojave River, 1400-1450 ft., Afton, San Bernardino Co., Calif. December 26, 1956 flushed off of the pond as we approached. The circled upstream and landed after a few minutes. As we got back to camp at dusk two quail (Gambel I assume) flushed out of the brush between the road and the railroad, flew at a height of several yards over the open area on which we camped, and alighted in a thick clump of screw bean and mesquite about 50 yards north of camp. It was too dark to try to pursue them. Actually my wife flushed them after I had already passed through the area from which they flushed. We heard no vocalization from them. In general it appears that birds are much scarcer in the area than they were in the spring - and much more silent too. Although it was very windy on the coast when we left there is practically no wind on the desert. The day was clear and warm (high sixties or low 70's). The temperature dropped rapidly when the sun went down and the night is quite cold. December 27, 1956 After a very cold night (ice 2" thick formed on the water in the bucket) we ate breakfast and started to hunt at about 8 AM. We hunted for about 2 hours in the scattered clumps of mesquite interspersed by sand and stipplex between the railroad and the wally edge west of our camp. In this area we heard a Gambel Quail call from the screw bean thicket where we