758 SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — GALLIN.E — ALECTOROPODES. 



coast range in the latter State from about hit. 34° to Lower California ; in fine, it is the ordi- 

 nary Mountain Quail of most parts of California, aside from the restricted Coast Range of the 

 preceding, and also the one which extends E. into Nevada. The distinction is a subtle one, 

 but I am willing to let the subspecies pass muster with a hundred others of which I have no 

 favorable private opinion. 0. ])icta, in part, of most authors. Ortyx plumifera Gould, 1857. 

 Oreortyx pictus var. plumiferus Ridgw. in Bd. Brew, and Ridgw. Hist. N. A. B. iii, 1874, 

 p. 476 ; A. O. U. No. 292 a. 



O. p. confl'iiis. (Lat. next to, adjoining, being on the border of.) San Pedro Mountain 

 Quail or Plumed Partridge. " Differing from 0. p. xtlnmifera in grayer upper parts and 

 thicker bill." San Pedro Mts. of Lower California. Anthony, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sci. 2d ser. 

 ii, Oct. 1889, p. 74; Coues, Key, 4th ed. 1890, p. 904 ; A. 0. U. List, 2d ed. 1895, No. 292 h. 

 LOPHOR'TYX. (Gr. \6(l>os, lophos, a crest ; oprv^, ortiix, a quail.) Helmet Quail. 

 With an elegant crest, recurved helmet- wise, of several (6-10, usually 6 or 7) keeled, clubbed, 

 glossy-black, imbricated feathers, more than 1.00 long when fully developed; in 9, smaller, 

 of fewer feathers. Tarsus slightly shorter than middle toe and claw. Tail normally of 12 

 feathers, exceptionally 10 or 14, about | as long as wing ; outstretched feet not reaching to 

 its end. A small claw on the pollex. Bulk of Bob White, but longer; 10.00-11.00; wing 

 4.00 or more; tail 3.00 or more. Coloration chiefly in masses; sexes unlike. ^ with chin 

 and throat jet-black, sharply bordered with white ; a white line across vertex and along sides 

 of crown, bordered behind by black ; 9 without these head-markings. Eggs heavily colored. 

 Two elegant species in the U. S., and another in Mexico, C. elegans. This genus is closely 

 related to the Mexican genus Philortyx (P. fasciatus and P. personatus). It was reduced to 

 a subgenus of Callipepla, by the A. O. U. in 1886-95. See Coues, Auk, 1897, p. 214, whence 

 A. 0. U. restored to full genus, Suppl. List, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 106, as it has always stood in 

 the Key. See also Elliot, Gall. Game Birds, 1897, pp. 195, 196. 



Analysis of Species and Subspecies. 



(f middle of belly orange-chestnut ; sides like back, with white stripes ; hind-head smoky-brown ; forehead chiefly 

 whitish, with white loral line. 



Back and flanks dark brown ; edges of inner secondaries deep buff californica 



Back and flanks light brown ; edges of inner secondaries pale buff c. vallicola 



cf middle of belly jet-black ; sides chestnut, with white stripes ; hind-head chestnut ; forehead chiefly black ; no 

 white loral line gambeli 



Li. califor'nica. (Lat. Californian. Fig. 512.) Californian Partridge. Valley Quail 



or Top-knot Quail of the Californians. Adult $ : With a small white line from bill to eye ; 

 forehead whitish with black lines ; occiput smoky-brown ; nuchal and cervical feathers with 

 very dark edging and shaft-lines, and fine whitish speckling. General color of upper parts 

 ashy, with strong olive-brown gloss, the edging of the inner quills brownish-orange. Fore 

 breast slaty-blue; other under parts tawny, deepening into rich golden-brown or orange-chest- 

 nut on the belly, where all the feathers are sharply edged with jet-black ; sides olive-brown 

 like back, with sharp white stripes; vent and crissum tawuy, with dark stripes. Length 

 10.00-11.00; wing 4.25; tail 3.75; tarsus 1.25; middle toe and claw rather more. Besides 

 lacking definite head-markings, 9 wants rich sienna color of under parts, which are whitish or 

 tawny with black semicircles as in ^ ; breast olive-gray. Young in first plumage marked with 

 white, black-bordered shaft-lines on the upper parts, breast with angular white spots, and belly 

 with obscure gray bars. Chicks in down dingy white, more rusty abt)ve, varied with length- 

 wise brown markings, especially one on the nape, and dusky on side of head. The changes of 

 plumage are parallel with those of gambeli. Lower portions of California, Oregon, Washing- 

 ton, and British Columbia; S. tt) Monterey, N., in part at least, due to introduction; charac- 

 teristic of the Pacific coast region, where abundant. A fine species, entirely distinct from 



