PERDICID^ — THE PARTRIDGES. 



467 



All the North American Quails, except Cyrtonyx massena, have the inner 

 tertiaries edged internally with whitish or buff, forming a conspicuous line 

 on each side of the rump when the wings are closed. 



Genus ORTYX, Stephens. 



Ortyx, Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. XI, 1819. (Type, Tetrao virginianus, L.) 



Gen. Char. Bill stout. Head entirely without any crest. Tail short, scarcely more 

 than half the wing, composed of moderately soft feathers. Wings normal. Legs devel- 

 oped, the toes reaching considerably 

 beyond the tip of the tail ; the lateral 

 toes short, equal, their claws falling 

 decidedly short of the base of the mid- 

 dle claw. 



■^ 



The genus Ortyx embraces 

 numerous species, more or less aaaiis 

 resembling the well-known Bob- 

 white of the United States. They 

 are chiefly confined to Mexico, 

 Central America, and the West 

 India Islands. jSTorth America 

 and the West India Islands con- 

 tain but one species, and this is 

 so exceedingly variable in plumage that it is only at extreme points of its 

 range that differences acquire sufficient constancy to be considered worthy 

 of especial notice. The regions of its extremes of variation are the north- 

 eastern, southeastern, and southwestern limits of its range ; the modifica- 

 tions attaining in Cuba and in Texas sufficient value to have been deemed 

 of specific importance. But comparing even the three extremes of plumage, 

 the differences are found to consist only in a varying amount of the several 

 colors, specimens from intervening regions forming the connecting links. 



Ortyx virginianus. 



Species and Varieties. 



O. virginianus. Head longitudinally striped, with a dark superior and 

 lateral stripe, a light superciliary stripe (continuing down the side of the 

 neck), and a light gular patch ; these stripes blackish and pure white in the 

 male, and rusty and ochraceous in the female. Above mottled with rusty 

 and grayish ; the latter prevailing posteriorly, the former anteriorly. Upper 

 part of the rump, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts more or less blotched 

 with black. Beneath white, with transverse, somewhat V-shaped bars of 

 black ; sides striped with rufous ; lower tail-coverts rufous, with black 

 medial arrow-head, and both webs tipped with roundish spots of rusty 

 white. 



