40 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



lying at an elevation of 3,500 to 4,000 feet and over. The western axial center 

 is situated in Sonora, about 20 miles due south of Nogales. The city of 

 Magdalena appears to mark the southern boundary, while the northern line lies 

 about halfway between Tucson and Nogales. The western swing of the circle 

 naturally is broken and irregular; nevertheless it can be traced quite clearly, 

 as the land falls in every direction but east. As soon as desert conditions 

 begin to intergrade with grass and oak, environments no longer seem favorable 

 for the masked bobwhite. 



The eastern limits of the bird's range are also determined by altitude. Just 

 where the mountains begin to get too high for them it is hard to say, though 

 it is not very far east of Nogales. I believe it is about 50 miles and feel quite 

 confident it is not more than 100, though I have not traced that line personally 

 as I have the other. 



There have been seen within the past two years two small bands of these 

 quail north and west of Magdalena. Except for this no hunter, sportsman, or 

 observer with whom I have been able to establish contacts has ever seen the 

 bird or heard of its existence. As my inquiries have been carried on for the 

 past six years and have covered a large stretch of country and been thorough, 

 my conclusion that the bird is almost extinct does not seem open to question. 

 The reasons for his disappearance are not so clear. The greatest contributing 

 cause appears to be the habit the Mexican wood cutters have of burning the 

 hillsides in order to get better firewood. The rise in the cattle industry, in the 

 prosperity and population of the country, and civilization in general seems 

 to have wiped out the bobwhite and the turkeys, but not Gambel's or Mearns's 

 quail. Colinus ridgwayi can not maintain itself against civilization. The rea- 

 sons why it can not do so are not wholly obvious. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Formerly north to southern Arizona (Baboquivari Moun- 

 tains and Huachuca Mountains) . South to northern Sonora (Sesabe 

 and Magdalena). The eastern and western limits determined by 

 the extent of grassy plains at altitudes of from 3,500 to 4,000 feet. 

 This bobwhite has now disappeared entirely from Arizona and is 

 nearly, or quite, extinct in Sonora. 



Egg dates. — Arizona : 3 records, May 4 to 12. 



OREORTYX PICTA PALMERI Oberholser 

 MOUNTAIN QUAIL 



HABITS 



The common name, which is fortunately more stable than the 

 scientific name, of this quail remains as we have always known it. 

 But Dr. H. C. Oberholser (1923) has discovered that the bird which 

 Douglas described as Ortyx picta was really the lighter-colored bird 

 of the interior, rather than the darker bird of the humid coastal 

 strip, to which we have always heretofore applied the name picta. 

 Therefore, the paler bird of the interior must take the name Oreortyx 

 picta picta, plumed quail. This relegates the name plwnifera to 



