648 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



doubt is determined by the length and severity of the 

 winters which prevail in this rigorous climate. They 

 seldom migrate, except to short distances, in quest of 

 food, and, consequently, often perish beneath deep drifts 

 of snow, so that their existence is rendered impossible in 

 the arctic winters of our high latitudes. Indeed, some- 

 times they have been so thinned in this part of the coun- 

 try, that sportsmen, acquainted with their local attach- 

 ments, have been known to introduce them into places 

 for breeding, and to prevent their threatened extermina- 

 tion. So sedentary are the habits of this interesting bird, 

 that until the flock is wholly routed by the unfeeling 

 hunter, they continue faithfully attached to the neigh- 

 bourhood of the spot where they have been raised and 

 supported. 



Johnston, Willughby, and Ray distinguished the Mex- 

 ican bird by the quaint title of the Quail's Image. 

 The first settlers in New England also thought they saw 

 in this familiar bird the Cluail of the country they had 

 relinquished. The two birds, are, however, too different 

 to require any critical comparison. Ours is even justly 

 considered by European ornithologists as the type of a 

 peculiar American subgenus, to which has been given 

 the name of Ortyx by Stevens, the original appellation 

 of the Quail or Perclix coturnix, as known to the ancient 

 Greeks. The name of Colin, contracted by Buffon from 

 the barbarous appellation of some Mexican species, and 

 adopted by Cuvier, Temminck, and Vieillot is, however, 

 to be preferred, as free from the implied contradiction of 

 the Greek name. 



Although there is some general resemblance between 

 the Quail of the old and the new continent in their ex- 

 ternal appearance, their habits and instincts are exceed- 

 ingly different. The true Quail is a noted bird of pas- 



