THE SCALY PARTRIDGES. II5 



Tail about three-fourths of the length of the wing, and conv 

 posed of fourteen feathers. 



Tarsus shorter than the middle toe and elaw. 

 Only two small forms are known. 



I. THE SCALY PARTRIDGE. CALLIPEPLA SQUAiMATA. 



Ortyx squamatus. Vigors, Zool. Journ. v. p. 275 (1830). 

 Tetrao cristaia, La Llave, Reg. Trim. i. p. 144 (1831); id. 



Nat. Mex. vii. App. p. 65 (1884). 

 Callipepla stremia^ Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 278. 

 Callipepla squamata, Gould, Monogr. Odontoph. pt. i. pi 19 



(1844); Cassin, 111. B. Calif, p. 129, pi. xix. (1853); 



Bendire, N. Am. B. p. 18, pi. i. figs. 4, 5 [eggs] (1892); 



Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 395 (1893). 

 Callipepla squamata pallida^ Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vi. 



p. 72(1881). 



Adult Male. — General colour above grey, browner on the wings 

 and lower back, each feather of the neck, mantle, chest, and 

 sides of breast edged with black, giving these parts a scaled 

 appearance ; throat and middle of breast and belly, whitish-buff; 

 no dark chestnut patch iii the middle of the belly. Total length, 

 10 inches; wing, 4*8; tail, 3-6; tarsus, 1-2; middle toe and 

 claw, 1-35. 



Adult Female. — Differs slightly in having dusky shaft-stripes 

 to the feathers of the throat, and in being slightly smaller than 

 the male. 



Range. — New Mexico, Arizona, Western Texas, and North 

 and Central Mexico, from Chihuahua and San Luis Potosi, as 

 far south as the city of Mexico. 



Habits. — "The Scaled Partridge, usually called the Blue Quail 

 and also the White Top-knot Quail, is a constant resident in 

 South-western Texas from about latitude 28° northward along; 

 the valley of the Rio Grande, as well as in a considerable por- 



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