MASSENA QUAIL CYRTONYX MASSEXA, 445 



''Ouce, ou flusliing a covey of Ortyx texana, my attention was 

 attracted by a bird wliich remained behind, showing no inclination to 

 follow the rest. It attempted to hide in the grass, but not to tiy, and 

 on being shot proved to be a male Mmsena. It occurs in pairs or flocks, 

 and when flushed it flies further than the Virginia Quail, and does not 

 lie so close. They may be approached within a few feet, and followed 

 up, particularly wlieu in pairs, running along before you like so many 

 domestic fowls. It is quiet as well as retired ; a subdued though sharp 

 note is the only noise I ever heard it make, and that only when fright- 

 ened. I have seen it pursued, and all the barrels of a six-shooter flred 

 at it without giving it alarm, and finally forced to fly only by an attack 

 of stones and clubs. It was first met in the neighborhood of San An- 

 tonio, and thence sparsely distributed, as an inhabitant of both prairies 

 and mountains, as far westward as Sonora. It is a much wilder bird 

 than the squamata ; less conspicuous, as also less noisy, and never seen 

 in flocks, living about old camps, as is often the case with the latter. 

 Its haunts are far removed from the habitation of man, and the indiffer- 

 ence it sometimes manifests to his presence is due to its ignorance of 

 his power and attributes. Though distributed over the same country 

 as the squamata, it is not found in such barren regions as the latter fre- 

 quently is, preferring those regions most luxuriantly covered with vege- 

 tation.''—./, ff. Clarl: 



" First seen in the CaQou Guapuco, twelve leagues south of Monterey. 

 Though rather shy, it seemed quite at home in the cultivated fields and 

 stubbles of the ranches." — D. N. Couch. 



•' This bird I have never seen further south in Texas than Turkey 

 Creek. In this vicinity it was very common, and also at various points 

 thence to the Eio Grande. In the valley of this river it is very rarely 

 seen, giving way apparently to the Scaly and Gambel's Partridges. 

 "West of the river it was very common as far as we traveled, wherever 

 there was fresh and i)ermanent water. In the valley of the Santa Cruz 

 Kiver, and among the adjacent hills, it was extremely abundant. In 

 the mouths of June and July it was observed there, always in pairs, 

 while in Texas, in the mouths of October and November, it was found 

 in very large flocks, sometimes of various ages, from the very small 

 and partly fledged to the full grown bird. When hunted it hides itself 

 very closely in the grass, and I have often known Mexicah soldiers in 

 Sonora to kill them with their lances, by striking them either while on 

 the ground or just as they rise. Some of these men are very expert in 

 this business, and will kill many in the course of a day's travel." — C. B. 

 R. Kennerly. 



It is not difficult to gain from these accounts a pretty definite idea of 

 the range of the species in the United States, though we do not know 

 how far south it i)enetrates in Mexico, which is really its native country. 

 We have no record of it as yet as a bird of California. To the indica- 

 tions of its range in Texas and New Mexico, I have only to add, as just 

 now done, its occurrence in Arizona at Fort Whip]>le, a locality at some 

 distance from those previously recorded, and further north, as well as 

 west, liian any belbre known. There it is rare, as stated, nor do 1 think 

 that the species can be very abundant even in the southern portions of 

 the Tenitory, unless it be at the southeast corner. 



We see tliat none of the fragmentary published accounts are more 

 than is(»late«l facts of an imiterfect liistory ; yet they do gotxl service as 

 contributions toward a biograi)hy. The bird is mentioiu'd as an in- 

 habitant of the most barren, desolate, and unfrequentetl regions, as well 

 as the vicinity of cultivated ranches j as veiy unusually tame, or quite 



