232 GALLIFORMES 



chestnut and the abdomen black. Dactylortyx thoracicus of Central 

 America has brown upper parts, with black blotches and rufous 

 and buff mottlings ; the superciliary stripes, cheeks, and throat 

 are chestnut, with a black patch on each side of the last ; the 

 under surface is reddish-grey with white shaft-stripes. In the 

 hen the chestnut is replaced by whitish. The crest is not so 

 full as in Odontoj)]iorus, of which some fourteen species extend 

 from South Mexico to Bolivia and South Brazil. 0. guianensis, 

 ranging from Panama to Bolivia and Amazonia, has the head and 

 throat mainly chestnut, the neck and mantle grey, the lower back 

 reddish-l:)rown — all except the grey portions being marked with 

 buff and black ; the mid-throat is grey, the under parts orange- 

 brown, with dusky barring on the chest and sides. The naked 

 orbits are reddish ; the bill is black, the feet are rather lighter, 

 as in the Sub -family generally. Rhynchortyx spodiostethus of 

 Veragua and Panama has the crown brown, the rest of the head 

 chiefly rusty-red, the mantle grey and brown, the lower back buff 

 relieved by grey and black, the wings more chestnut, the lower 

 parts dark grey, with white and buff centres to the throat and 

 breast respectively, and black -barred flanks. B. cinctus of 

 Veragua has a rufous chest and olive-brown cheeks. 



As an instance of the habits we may take Ortyx virginianus, 

 called Bob-white from the shrill triple whistle of the male, 

 which resembles " Ah-bob- white." It is a wary denizen of 

 open woods and pastures, found in coveys, and roosting on 

 the ground, though habitually taking refuge in trees, where 

 it crouches upon the branches. It runs very swiftly, but rises, 

 when hard pressed, with a whirring noise to fly for a short 

 distance. The food consists of succulent shoots, seeds, berries, 

 acorns, beech-nuts, and insects ; the nest is imbedded in grass or 

 placed at the foot of a tree, and is made of a little herbage, which 

 may even arch over it ; the white or drab eggs number from nine 

 to eighteen. The male is said to assist in incubation, two broods 

 being occasionally reared in a season. The female utters a clucking 

 sound, and will feign lameness when with her brood. 



Other forms prefer pine-forests, rocky ground, or dry sandy 

 flats overgrown with cactus and sage-brush ; their cries being in 

 some cases louder or more guttural, while the eggs may be 

 blotched or spotted with reddish-brown. Nests have even been 

 recorded low down in trees. Ortyx virginianus has been intro- 



