116 GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 



about the farm. But dog and hunter are now abroad, and the quiet, 

 happy days of the quail are over. Verison Bailey. 



289b. C. V. texanus (Lawr.). Texan Bob-white. 



Adult male. — Similar to C. virginianus, but upper parts mainly brown 

 rather than reddish brown, with distinct 

 whitish barrings and with less striking black 

 blotches on scapulars, tertials, and lower 

 back ; under parts more heavily and thickly 

 barred with brown, and usualh' with broader 

 ^' and more distinct band of pinkish brown 



below black collar. Adult female : like male, but without striking black 

 or white markings ; upper parts mixed black, white, and brown, from 

 buffy brown to rufous ; throat patch and superciliary tawny ; flanks less 

 deeply rufous ; mediani under parts less heavily barred than in male, but 

 more heavily barred than in the female virginianus. Young : browner 

 than in virginianus. Wing : 4.39, tail 2.44, bill .59. 



Distribution. — Resident in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones, from west- 

 ern Kansas south through Texas to eastern Nuevo Leon and Central 

 Tamaulipas, Mexico. 



Nest, eggs, and food like those of the bob-white. 



The Texan bob- white is equally at home in the thorny thickets of 

 southern Texas and in the brushy creek bottoms of western Kansas. 

 At San Antonio, Texas, Mr. Attwater says the quail often come close 

 to his ranch and lay eggs in hens' nests, perhaps on account of the 

 protection afforded against snakes. 



Except for the paler coloration so common in the more open and 

 arid regions, the Texan is a true bob-white, and for habits and voice 

 might have been bred in Ohio. 



291. Colinus ridgwayi Breifjsf. Masked Bob-white. 



Adult male. — Face and throat black, under parts reddish brown ; upper 

 parts finely mottled with cinnamon brown, black, 

 and buff ; back of neck finely streaked with white. 

 Adult female : like the female of C. v. texanus, but 

 usually with a more marked chest band and 

 TTicr iq-? heavier barring on belly. Wing: 4.49, tail 2.81, 



^^; bill .60. 



Distribution. — Southwestern Arizona and northwestern Sonora. 

 Nest. — By one record, a shallow excavation beside a tuft of grass. 

 Eggs : 6, white, unspotted. 



Food. — Red ants, grasshoppers, beetles, seeds, leaves, and berries. 



The masked bob-white, first discovered in southern Arizona by 

 Mr. Herbert Brown, finds congenial cover in the high grass of the 

 mesas and valleys, disappearing when stock destroy the grass. Mr. 

 Brown describes the male as strikingly handsome when the sun red- 

 dens the deep chestnut of his breast. His two characteristic notes 

 are the family hoh-ioMte, given in bold full tones from the top of 

 a rock or bush, and a 'hoo-we,' used when the birds are scattered, 

 especially toward nightfall. 



