■ THE SCALY PARTRIDGES. - I I 5 



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

 posed of fourteen feathers. .... 

 Tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw. 

 Only two small forms are known. 



I. THE SCALY PARTRIDGE. CALLIPEPLA SQUAMATA. 



Oriyx sqiiamatus^ Vigors, Zool. Journ. v. p. 275 (1830). 

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



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

 Callipepla strenua, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 278. 

 Callipepla squamata, Go.uld, 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 squaniata 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; 

 710 da?-k chestfiut patch i?i the middle of the belly. Total length, 

 10 inches; wing, 4"8 ; tail, t^-G ; tarsus, i"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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