MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



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general the proportion of black in the Florida fernales is the same as that 

 in the northern males. There is a similar relative increase in the extent 

 of the black markings on the wing coverts, scapulars, and interscapulars, 

 and on the dorsal surface generally. The black bonier to the white throat- 

 patch is also broader, and extends back on the sides of the head so as usu- 

 ally to cover the auriculars, which in average northern specimens are dark 

 rufous. The bill is also much darker, being generally jet black ; in 

 Massachusetts specimens it is brownish black, with the tip decidedly 

 lighter than the other parts. 



The so-called Texas quail (Ortyx texanus Lawr.) does not differ very 

 greatly from either the Florida or the northern ones, it combining some 

 of the essential characters of each, but more resembling Florida speci- 

 mens than northern ones. Lawrence and Baird mention the ashen or 

 decided gray hue on portions of the dorsal surface as distinguishing it 

 from the 0. virginianus, which has these parts of a "dull pinkish red." 

 " A dull pinkish red," however, is just the color of these parts in my 

 Florida specimens ; but the Massachusetts specimens, on the contrary, are 

 ashen, as already stated, and in this respect agree with the descriptions 

 of the Texas form, and differ from the Florida ones in the same way that 

 the Texas ones are said to do from those of the Atlantic coast of the 

 Middle and Southern States. In both the Florida and Texas specimens 

 there is a similar increase in the breadth of the black transverse mark- 

 ings, Lawrence describing them as being twice as broad in the Texas 

 specimens as in the northern ones. 



The Ortyx cubanensis of Cabanis appears scarcely to differ from the 

 quails of Florida and Texas. D'Orbigny and Lembeye were hence doubt- 

 less correct in believing the so-called Ortyx cubanensis to be identical with 

 the 0. virginianus. 



The following summary of the subjoined tables shows the difference in 

 size that obtains between northern and southern specimens, and also in 

 the sexes. The largest Florida specimen, it will be seen, scarcely equals 

 the smallest northern one, when those of the same sex are compared. 



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