FAMILY PHASIANIDAE 



317 



There is much individual variation in depth of color and in amount 

 of barring. 



These elusive birds, inhabitants of forests, are found in areas of 

 irregular terrain, especially in hill country where they live on the 

 ground in the cover of undergrowth. Usually they range in small 

 flocks of 6 or 8 individuals, rarely more, as the bands have the 

 appearance of family groups. These shelter often about a fallen 

 tree, or a steep broken slope may be attractive where they walk about 

 quietly, often to the accompaniment of low calls that barely are 

 heard by the human ear. At an alarm they crouch and hide, and I 



y^H/, 



Fig. 54. — Marbled wood quail, gallito del nionte jaspeado, Odontophorus gu- 



janensis. 



am sure that often I have passed near such little bands without 

 being aware of their presence. If I chance directly upon them there 

 is immediate alarm, in which one or two may fly suddenly, with a 

 startling roar of wings, and dart away low for 60 or 80 meters, and 

 then alight to run, while others dash off under cover on foot. In 

 such manner the entire flock scatters and disappears in a flurry of 

 excited chirping calls to hide so effectively that it is seldom that one 

 is seen again. In dense cover they crouch with head forward as they 

 T\m, but when the forest floor is fairly open they scurry off with 

 head and neck erect and feathers compressed, making them appear 

 so slender that it is somewhat of a surprise to note their heavy 

 bodies when a shot brings one to hand. When all is quiet the birds 



