478 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Nevada, iu the vicinity of Geuoa and Carson City, and also in tliu mountain- 

 ranges lying immediately to the eastward of the Sierra. It was quite rare 

 and very difficult to discover, and when found was generally met with acci- 

 dentally. He obtained it in November in the thick chaparral at the eastern 

 base of the Sierra Nevada. In May he secured a pair in the cedar woods a 

 little to the eastward of Carson City, and in December a flock was met with 

 on the Comstock Mountains near Pyramid Lake. Its call-note when a 

 flock is scattered is almost exactly like that of a Hen-Turkey, only propor- 

 tionally weaker. Wlien a flock is startled, they utter a confused chuckling 

 note, something like that of the common ea.stern Quail. The male has a 

 very pleasant crowing-note, which sounds some like koo-koo-kuoe. Tlie 

 settlers in Nevada say that, pre^^ous to the settlement of tliat coimtry by 

 the wliites, this Qunil was not found east of the Sierra Nevada, and affirm 

 that they followed the wagon-roads over the mountains, iu the rear of trains 

 and wagons, for the purpose of picking up the grain scattered along the 

 road. Mr. Ridgway does not give full credit to the truth of these state- 

 ments, as he was informed by the Indians at Pyramid Lake, that, within 

 the memory of the oldest members of their tribe, it had always been found 

 in that vicinity. 



An egg of this species taken by Dr. Canfield, near Monterey, California, 

 measures 1.45 inches iu length by 1.10 in breadth. It is oval in shape ; one 

 end is considerably more pointed than the other. It is of a very rich cream- 

 color, with a reddish shading, and unspotted. 



Genus LOPHORTYX, Bo.\ap.\hte. 



9.'i90 S 



Lophortyx, BoSxvr. Geog. & Comp. List, 1838. (Type, Tdrao californicus, Sh.\w.) 



Gen. Guar. Head with a crest of lengthened feathers springing from the vertex, the 

 shafts in the same vertical plane, and the webs roof-shaped and' overlapping each other; 



the number varies from two to six 

 or more ; they widen to the tip, 

 where they are .slightly recurved. 

 Tail lengthened and graduated, nearly 

 as long as the wing, composed of 

 twelve stiff feathers. Wings with the 

 tertials not as long as the prima- 

 ries ; the coverts without any unusual 

 development. Claws rather short; the 

 lateral reaching to, but scarcely 

 beyond the base of the middle ; the 



Lophortyx cali/omicus. 



outstretched toe not reaching the tip of the tail. Sexes very different. 



The two North American species of the genus have the anterior half of 

 the body, and the upper parts generally, plumbeous ; the feathers of neck 

 above, and on the sides, pointed and margined with black. There is a white 

 bar across the head above, between the eyes, which, passing backwards, is 



