MASKED BOBWHITE 39 



flanks are chestnut, tipped with a spot of clear white, which is bordered 

 behind with a more or less V-shaped bar of deep black. The broad yellowish 

 white superciliary stripes extend to the nostrils. 



The sexes differentiate during the fall, and young males show con- 

 tinuous progress toward maturity during their first winter. The 

 juvenal plumage does not wholly disappear until December or 

 later ; there is more or less white in the black throat and more or less 

 black barring on the breast; but the throat becomes clearer black 

 and the breast and underparts purer " tawny " as the season advances. 



Food. — Major Bendire (1892) quotes Brown on this subject, as 

 follows : 



Of three stomachs of this species examined, one contained a species of 

 mustard seed, a few chaparral berries, and some six or eight beetles and other 

 insects, ranging in length from a half inch down to the size of a pin head. 

 The second was similarly provided, but contained, in lieu of mustard seed, a 

 grasshopper fully an inch in length. These two were taken on the mesa. The 

 third, from a bird taken in the valley, contained about 20 medium-sized red 

 ants, several crescent-shaped seeds, and a large number of small, fleshy, green 

 leaves. 



He also says that Lieut. H. C. Benson, who secured a number of 

 specimens in Sonora, in 1886, wrote him " that they only frequented 

 cultivated fields there, where wheat and barley had been raised." 

 John C. Cahoon, who collected in the same section of Sonora, found 

 these quail abundant there ; " several large coveys were seen and 8 

 specimens shot in one day " ; he sent 10 specimens, taken February 

 5-8, 1887, to William Brewster (1887) ; they were " haunting patches 

 of weeds in gardens and barren sand wastes, where they fed on the 

 seeds of a plant called red-root." 



Behavior. — Brown (1885) says of the habits of the masked 

 bobwhite : 



They appear to resemble very closely those of the common quail (C. vir- 

 ginianus), only slightly modified by the conditions of their environment. They 

 utter the characteristic call, " Bob White," with bold, full notes, and perch on 

 rocks and bushes when calling. They do not appear to be at all a mountain 

 bird, but live on the mesa, in the valleys, and possibly in the foothills * * *. 

 In addition to their " Bob White " they have a second call of hoo-ice, articulated 

 and as clean cut as their Bob White. This call of hoo-ice they use when scat- 

 tered, and more especially do they use it when separated toward nightfall. At 

 this hour I noted that, although they occasionally called "Bob White" they 

 never repeated the first syllable, as in the daytime they now and then attempted 

 to do * * *. I will venture to say that when frightened and scattered they 

 are a hard bird to get. Hear one call, locate it as you may, see one fly and 

 mark it down, and without a dog it is virtually impossible to flush it. 



Griffing Bancroft wrote to me in 1928, as follows: 



The masked bobwhite, Collnus rldgwayi, is virtually extinct. Its former 

 breeding range was confined to a transition zone somewhat oval in shape and 



