AVES. 
237 
Genus 15.—SYRRHAPTE S .—Illiger. 
Generic Character. —Bill short, conical, slender; upper man¬ 
dible slightly bent, having a groove along the ridge ; nostrils 
basal, lateral, partly covered by feathers ; feet with three ante¬ 
rior toes only ; tarsus and toes covered with woolly feathers ; 
tail subconic, the two central feathers much elongated, and fili¬ 
form at the tips; wings long, extending nearly as far as the point 
of the tail, with the first quill prolonged, and filiform. 
Syrrhaptes PallasiL — Pallas’s Syrrhaptes. 
Plate LIV. fig. 8. 
Head and neck pale fawn-colour, mixed with gray; back, tail, 
breast, upper wing-coverts, secondaries, and scapulars, fawn- 
colour, with transverse circular bands of black ; quills black, 
margined with pale fawn, outer quill gray, abdomen with a 
broad band of bluish-black ; irides reddish-orange ; bill yellow ; 
legs cream-yellow; nails black. From point of bill to the tip 
of the tail, twenty-seven inches. Inhabits Tartary. 
Genus 1G.—ORTYX. — Stephens. 
Generic Character. —Bill very short, robust, greatly arcuated, 
compressed, naked at the base, and bent at the point; nostrils 
basal, lateral, and partly closed by a membrane; legs strong; 
three toes before, united at the base by a membrane, and a 
strong hallux, which rests on the ground; tail long, wedge- 
shaped. 
Ortyx Californica. — The Californian Quail. 
Plate LVI. fig. 6. 
Dusky-brown, lead-coloured towards the tail ; breast with a 
broad band of dark gray; front of head ash-gray; blackish- 
brown behind ; head surmounted by a crest of five or six black 
feathers, an inch and a half long, curved forward at the point 
back and neck with black margined feathers; throat black, sur¬ 
rounded by a gorget-shaped band of white feathers; a white 
stripe passes over the eyes; bill and legs dusky. Ten inches 
long. Inhabits California. 
Genus 17.—PERDIX.— Latham. 
Generic Character. —Bill short, strong, naked at the base ; 
