THE MASSENA PAKTRIDGE. 39 



elevation of al)out .S,00() feet I fluslied the female almost directlv under my 

 feet and shot it. The hillside was covered in places with patches of pines 

 and aspens, as well as with low bushes and o-rasses. The nest was directlv 

 inider a dead limb w^hich was orowii over witli dend yrass, and so com- 

 pletelv hidden that until I liad removed the limb and some of tlie o-rass it 

 was not discernible at all. The nest was sunken in tlie i;round, and com- 

 posed of small grass stems, arched over, and tlie l)ird could only enter it 1)\- 

 a long- tunnel leading to it from under the liml) and tlie grass growino- 

 around it. Tlie eggs were eight in number and naturallv wliite, but t]ie\- 

 were l^adly stained by the damp ground, their color being now a brownisli 

 white. Tliey were nlmost hatched. Tiie female nuist luive remained on 

 them all the time to have caused sucli miiform incub;iti(m and preserved 

 the eggs from spoiling \)y the excessive dampness. 



"On July 27 I met with a female and brood of al)out a dozen yomio-. 

 The entire family was in view when I at first saw them crossing an old trail. 

 They at once entered some dense bushes, and I failed to capture or even see 

 any of them again. The yonng were probaldy alxmt a week old. On Au'nist 

 31 I discovered another brood, about a dozen in number, which were btit a 

 few days out of the nest. I secured one of the young whicli nuist have been 

 hatched late in the month." 



Mr. G. W. Todd writes me as follows: "I first met with tlie Massena Par- 

 tridge in Bandera County, Texas, in 1883, where thev very scarce, and I 

 learned but little of its habits for a long time. They are very simple and 

 unsuspicious, and apparently live so much in such barren and waste places that 

 they do not see enough of man to make tliein afraid. On seeing a ])erson they 

 generally scpiat at once, in- run a little way and hide. They will hardly fly 

 until one is almost on them, but when the}" finally do fly they go much further 

 than either the Texan Bob White or the Scaled Partridye, and on alio-htino- 

 they run rapidly for a little distance and then squat again, generally flushino- 

 easier the second time. It is rare to see more than six together; two or three 

 ai-e more often met with. In the fall of 1886,1 found a covey of five on a wet 

 and misty day, and killeil three of them with a Winchester rifle before the 

 remaining two flew. I never fountl their nest nor met \\ith small ^■ouno• until 

 this year. I saw luit a single young bird this sea.son, and this seemed to be 

 entirely alone. They are not very abundant here, and are always found in the 

 most barren places, among rocks and wastes, wdiere even the prickly pear is 

 stunted, and no bush grows over 3 feet high. When scared they ntter a kind of 

 whistling sound, a curious combination between a chuckle and a whistle, and 

 while flxing they make a noise a good deal like a Prairie lien, though softer 

 and less loud, like 'chuc-chuc-chuc' rapidly repeated. 



"The only nest of this species I have ever seen was situated under the 

 edge of a big limicli of a coarse specie of grass, known as 'hickorv grass.' 'i'his 

 grass grows out from the center and hangs over on all sides until tlu" lilades 

 touch the ground. It is a round, luiivl-stemmed grass, and oiilv i^rows on the 



