446 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



dian Territory, which contained sixteen eggs, measure, one 1.65 by 1.20 

 inches, another 1.63 by 1.28, and the third 1.75 by 1.28 inches. They are 

 of a rounded-oval sliape, more obtuse at one end than the other, and of a 

 uniform color, which varies from a light clay-color to a dark tawny-brown. 

 The eggs are sometimes, but not always, minutely sprinkled with brown. 



Cupidonia cupido, var. pallidicinctus, Eidgway. 



THE TEXAS PRAIKIE HEN. 



Cupidonia cupido, va,v. paUidicinctus, Ridgway. 



Sp. Char. Similar to var. cujndo, but above nearly equally barred with pale grayish- 

 ochraceous and dusky or blackish-brown. Beneath white, with faint, but sharply defined, 

 narrow bars of pale grayish-brown. Top of head with light bars prevailing; head-stripes 

 reddish-brown. Male (10,007, Prairies of Texas, Staked Plains? ; Capt. J. Pope, U. S. A.). 

 Whig, 8.30; tail, 4.20; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.50. Female (10,005, same locality, 

 etc.). Wing, 8.20. 



Hab. Southwestern Prairies (Staked Plains, Texas?). 



In its relations with the C. cupido, this race bears a direct analogy to 

 Pedicecetes columhiamts, as compared with P. pJiasianellus, and to Ortyx texa- 

 nus, as distinguished from 0. mrginianiis. Tlius in a much less develop- 

 ment of the tarsal feathers it agrees with the southern Pedicecetes, while in 

 paler, grayer colors, and smaller size, it is like the southwestern Ortyx. 



Genus BONASA, Stephens. 



Bonasa, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. XI, 1819. (Type, Tctrao bonasia, L.) » 

 Tetrastes, Keys. & Blas. Wirb. Europ. 1840, p. Ixiv. 



G-EN. Char. Tail widening to the end, its feathers very broad, as long as the wings ; 

 the feathers soft, and eighteen in number. Tarsi naked in the lower half; covered with 

 two rows of hexagonal scales anteriorly, as in the OrtygincE. Sides of toes strongly 

 pectinated. Naked space on the side of throat covered by a tuft of broad soft feathers. 

 Portion of culmen between the nasal fossas about one third the total length. Top of head 

 with a soft crest. 



This genus, in its partly naked tarsi, with two rows of scutellse anteriorly, 

 indicates a close approach to the American Partridges,' or Quails. It has a 

 single European representative, the B. sylvestris, Steph. 



Species and Varieties. 



B. umbellus. Rump with cordate light spots ; sides with transverse dark 

 spots. Tail with two gray bands (one terminal), with a broad blackish zone 

 between them. Cervical tufts glossy black or dark brown, with a semi- 

 metallic steel-blue or green border. 



