MASSENA QUAIL CYRTONYX MASSENA. 443 



to have met with it was Br. Heermann, who found it on the San Pedro, 

 a branch of the Gila, east of Tucson, and thence to Liuipia Springs. 

 Those of the Mexican Boundary Survey, however, all observed it, and 

 Dr. Kennerly makes the summary statement, that it was "found every- 

 where where there was permanent water, from Limpia Creek, Texas, to 

 San Bernardino, Sonora." Lieutenant Couch records it from "about 

 sixty leagues west of Matamoras ; not until free from prairie and bottom- 

 land;" an observation confirmed by Mr. Clarke, who states that it 

 " does not occur on the grassy prairies near the coast." 1 was rather 

 surprised to find no Blue Quail about Fort Whipple, since it seemed 

 that that locality was in their ordinary range ; and probably my ob- 

 servations, or rather want of observations in this ijarticular, represent 

 the actual truth, as I was repeatedly assured that none live there. In 

 Arizona they appear really to be confined to what is called the " lower 

 country," that is, to the valleys of the Gila and Colorado, in a restricted 

 sense. On the latter river it must ascend at least as high as Fort Mo- 

 jave ; and to the eastward, to the country about the Hassayauipa. 



The egg of the Blue Quail differs in color from that of the Califor- 

 nian or Gambel's, though of the same size and shape. A specimen 

 measures 1.20 by 1.00; it is buffy-white, or with the faintest possible 

 brownish-yellow tinge, and is very regularly and thickly dotted with 

 minute specks of light brown. The usual large number are laid for 

 each setting. 



MASSENA QUAIL.— Cyrtonyx massena,* (Less.) Gould. 



I found no Massena Quail about Fort Whipple until a few days before 

 my final departure. A pair were then procured, setting at rest the 

 doubts I had all along entertained regarding the veracity of reports I 

 had often received, of the occurrence there of Quail different from Gam- 

 bel's. But the species must certainly be rare in that region, since I 

 could not otherwise have overlooked it for so long a time. 



This remarkable Quail was described about forty years ago by several 

 writers, nearly simultaneously. For a long while it was only known as 

 a IMexican species. It remained for American naturalists and, I may 

 add, officers of the Army to show its existence in our country, and give 

 us something definite about its habits. In Colonel McCalFs observa- 

 tions upon Texan and New Mexican birds, i)ublished in the Philadelphia 

 Academy's proceedings for 1851, we find the following interesting 

 account : 



"The species was not seen before crossing the San Pedro, but it was 

 not long before it made its appearance in the waste and rocky region 

 into which we then entered. And from that time until we reached the 

 Kio Pecos, a distance of one hundred and forty miles (westwardly by 

 the route we traveled), it was frequently seen, though I should not say 



* Orlyx maHnaid, Lkss., Cent. Zool. 1830, 189. — FiNSCii, Abli. Nat. Bremcu, 1870, 357 



(Guadalaxara). 

 Cyrtotii/x moHHcua, (Jould, Monog. Odotit. 18.'i0, 15, pi. 7. — McCaix, Pr. A. N. S. v, 1851, 



i!il.— Cass., 111. i, 1853, 21, pi. 21.— Hkicii., Syat. Av. 1850, pi. 27.— Hi)., 15. N. A. 



18.58, (J47 ; Mox. B. Surv. ii, 1850, Birds, 23.— Coi'KS, l>r. Pliila. Aoad. lt*cr,, 05.— 



Dkess., Il)is, IKlMi, 20.— OisAY, Cat. (i<iir,ii<i- Br. Miis. It^iu. 71.— Coop., B. Cal. 



i, 1S7(), .558.— COUES, Key, 1872, 2:50.— B. B. &, li., N. A. B. iii. 187-1, 402, pi. 



(i4, f. 3, (i. 

 Ortjix nioiilrzHinn; Vie, Zool. Journ. v, lKi(t, 275. — Jaijd. & Skuiv, 111. pi. 126. 

 0(h>iito]>lii>ni!i wiliiiip-is, \\'m,i„, Isis, xxv, 1832, 270. 

 Tclroo ijiiltitld, Dk La Li-avk, Kegistro Triuiestre, i, 1832, 145. 

 "Perdix 2)aKpidUat(t, Licnr." 



