PEEDICID^ — THE PARTRIDGES. 475 



the wings. An egg of this bird, found by Dr. Heermann dropped upon the 

 road, was in form and color like that of the common Quail, but smaller. 



Mr. Dresser states that in Texas this bird is known as the " Common 

 Partridge " of the country. He found it abundant everywhere in localities 

 suitable tc its habits. Near Matamoras it was very common, and was the 

 only species of Quail he noticed there. At Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, 

 where the soil is sandy, the grass scanty, and cacti abundant, he saw only 

 one bevy, but plenty of the Calliioepla squamata. Near San Antonio only 

 this Quail is found, nor did he observe any otlier species in travelling to- 

 wards the northeast. Amongst the Bandara Hills, where he met with the 

 Massena Partridge, he also found the Texan Quail in the valley and near tlie 

 maize-fields. In travelling from Brownsville to San • Antonio the Texan 

 Quail was everywhere abundant except in the sand-deserts. This species 

 was found to be rather irregular as to its breeding-season, as he found young 

 birds near Matamoras early in July, and in September again met with quite 

 young birds near the Nueces Eiver, and Dr. Heermann informed him that 

 he had likewise procured eggs near San Antonio late in September. He ob- 

 tained a set of their eggs taken near San Antonio, which are very similar to 

 those of the Ortyx mrginianus, but are slightly smaller. 



Genus OREORTYX, Baird. 



Oreortyx, Baird, Birds of N. Am. 1858. (Type, Ortyx pieta, Douglas.) 



G-EN. Char. Body stout, broad ; bill large ; a crest of two or three much elongated 

 linear feathers, springing from the middle of the vertex ; tail short, broad, scarcely more 

 than half the wing, rounded, the longest feathers not much exceeding the coverts. Legs 

 developed, the claws extending beyond the tip of the tail ; the lateral toes short, the outer 

 claw falling considerably short of the base of the middle. Very similar to Ortyx, except 

 in the crest. Sexes similar. 



Oreortyx pictus, Baird. 



PLUMED PARTRIDGE; MOUNTAIN QUAIL. 



Ortyx picta, Douglas, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVL 1829, 143. Callipepla picta, Gould, Mon. 

 Odont. pi. XV. — Newberry, Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857, 93. — Heerm. X, s. 61. 

 Ortyx plumifera, Gould, Pr. Zool. Soc. V, 1837, 42. — AuD. Syn. 1839, 200. — Ib. 

 Birds Amer. V. 1842, 69, pi. ccxci. Perdix plumifera, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 

 220, pi. ccccxxii. Lophortyx j)lumifera, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 791. Oreor- 

 tyx pidus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 642. — Cooper & Suckley, 225. — COopeb, Orn. 

 Cal. I, 1870, 546. 



Sp. Char. Head with a crest of two straight feathers, much longer than the bill and 

 head. Anterior half of the body grayish-plumbeous ; the upper parts generally oliva- 

 ceous-brown with a slight shade of rufous, this extending narrowly along the nape to the 

 crest. Head beneath the eyes and throat orange-chestnut, bordered along the orbits and 



