488 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Sp. Char. Head with a full, broad, flattened crest of soft elongated feathers. Prevail- 

 ing color plumbeous-gray, with a fine bluish cast on jugulum and nape, whitish on the 

 belly, the central portion of which is more or less tinged with brownish ; sometimes a 

 conspicuous abdominal patch of dark rusty, the exposed surface of the wings tinged with 

 light yellowish-brown, and very finely and almost imperceptibly mottled. Head and 

 throat without markings, light grayish-plumbeous ; throat tinged with yellowish-brown. 

 Feathers of neck, upper part of back, and under parts generally, except on the sides and 

 behind, with a narrow but well-defined margin of blackish, producing the effect of im- 

 bricated scales. Feathers on the sides 



9388 i 



Caltipepla squamata. 



streaked centrally with white. Inner 

 edge of inner tertials, and tips of long 

 feathers of the crest, whitish. Crissum 

 rusty-white, streaked with rusty. Fe- 

 male similar. Length, 9.50 ; wing, 

 4.80; tail, 4.10. 



Hab. Table-lands of Mexico and 

 valley of Rio Grande of Texas. Most 

 abundant on the high broken table- 

 lands and mesquite plains. 



Habits. This bird was first described as a Mexican species in 1830 by Mr. 

 Vigors. For a long while it has been an extremely rare species in col- 

 lections, and its history, habits, and distribution remained unknown until the 

 explorations of the naturalists 

 made in the surveys under the 







direction of tlie national gov- 

 ernment. It was first noticed 

 within the territory of the 

 United States by Lieutenant 

 Abert, Topographical Engi- 

 neer, who, in his Report of the 

 examination of New Mexico, 

 furnishes several notes in rela- 

 tion to this species. In No- 

 vember, 1846, he mentions 



that, after having passed CalUpepla squu.nata. 



through Las Casas, while descending through a crooked ravine strewed with 

 fragments of rocks, he saw several flocks of this species. They were running 

 along with great velocity among the clumps of the kreosote plant. At the 

 report of the gun only three or four rose up, the rest seeming to depend 

 chiefly on their fleetness of foot. Tlieir stomachs were found to be filled 

 with grass-seeds and hemipterous insects. 



Captain S. G. French, in notes quoted by Mr. Cassin, mentions meeting 

 with these birds, in the same year, near Camargo, on the Rio Grande. At 

 Monterey none were seen ; but on the plains of Agua Nueva, a few miles 

 south of Saltillo, they were observed in considerable numbers. He after- 

 Avards met with them on the Upper Rio Grande, in the vicinity of El Paso. 



