G44 U. S. P, R. E. EXP. AND SURVEYS — ZOOLOGY — GENERAL REPORT. 



LOPHORTYX CALIFORNICUS, Bo nap. 



California Qnail. 



Telrao californicus, Shaw, Nat. Misc. pi. 345, (prior to 1801.) 



Perdix califurnica, Latuam, Suppl. Ind. Orn. II, App. 1801, p. Ixii.— .Add. Cm. Bicg. V, 1839, 152 ; pi. 413. 



Ortyx californica, Stephens in Sliaw's Zool. XI, 1819, 384. — Jardine, Game Birds, Nat. Libr. IV, 104, pi. xi. — 

 Cnv. R. An. Illust. ed, Oiseaux, pi. Ixiv. —Bennett, Gardens & Menag. Zool. Soc. II, 

 99, woodcut.— AuD. Syn. 1839, 199.— Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 67 ; pi. 290. 



Perdix (Orhjx) californica, Bonap. Syn. 1828, 125. 



Lopkorhjx californica, Bonap. List, 1838. — Nuttall, Man. I, 2d ed. 1840, 789. 



Callipepla californica, Gould, Mon. Odont. pi. xvi. — Reicheneach, Av. Sysl. 1850, pi. xxvii. — Newberrt, Rop. 

 P. R. R. VI, IV, 1857,92. 



Sp. Ch. — Crest black. Anterior half of body and upper parts plumbeous; the wings and back glossed with olive brown. 

 Anterior half of head above brownish yellow, the shafts of the stilf feathers black ; behind this is a white transverse band which 

 passes back along the side of the crown ; within this white, anteriorly and laterally, is a black suffusion. Tlio vertex and occiput are 

 light brown. Chin and throat black, margined laterally and bt hind by a white band, beginning behind the eye. Belly pale 

 buff anteriorly, (an orange brown rounded patch in the middle,) and white laterally, the feathers all margined abruptly with black . 

 The feathers on the sides of body like the back, streaked centrally with white. Feathers of top and sides of neck with the 

 margins and shafts black. Under tail coverts buff, broadly streaked centrally with brown. 



Female similar, without the white and black of the head ; the feathers of the throat brownish yellow, streaked with brown. 

 The buff and orange brown of the belly wanting. The crest short. 



Length, 9.50 inches ; wing, 4.32 ; tail, 4.12. 



Hab. — Plains and lowlands of California and Oregon towards the coast . Mohave river . 



The white hand across the middle of the head above hends abruptly at a right angle and 

 passes back to the occiput ; the second white stripe begins just at the posterior corner of the eye. 

 The imbricated pointed feathers on the neck are streaked centrally and margined with black, 

 although the tip of the shaft is white, producing an indentation of the black border. There is 

 also a tendency to a whitish suhapical spot just within the black. In many specimens there is 

 a short white line from the anterior corner of the eye to the commissure. There is no mottling 

 in the feathers of the back, or else but slight indication of it. The inner tertials are margined 

 internally with buff. 



This species supplies in western California and Oregon the place of the Bob white of the eastern 

 States, inhabiting the open lowlands and thriving in the vicinity of the settlements. It appears 

 to be confined chiefly to the coast regions, the only specimens from the Colorado basin in the 

 collection before me having been taken near the head of the Mohave river, and consequently 

 close to the limits of the region assigned. 



