APPENDIX. 523 



such essential respects from the Cuban form that they merit a distinctive name. 

 The characteristic features of this form are the following : — 



Char. Above, with dark bluish-gray prevailing, only the anterior part of the back being 

 washed, or mixed. Avith rcd(hsh ; scapulars and tertials quite conspicuously bordered with 

 whitish. The whole gray surface more or less mottled or barred with black. The head- 

 stripes are nearly uniformly black, with only a little rusty mixed in the occiput; the Vjlack 

 gular collar is much extended, encroaching on the throat anteriorly, so as to leave only an 

 inch, or less, of white, and posteriorly invades the jugulum, so that there is more than an 

 inch of continuous black, and over this distance where black predominates. The entire 

 abdomen, anal region, and breast are heavily barred with black, the black bars on the breast 

 almost equalling the white ones in width. The sides, flanks, and crissum are nearly uni- 

 form rufous, the feathers of the former with white edges, broken by the extensions of 

 the black streak which runs inside the white, while the latter have heavy black medial 

 streaks and white terminal spaces. 



The female is similar, except in the color of tlie head, which is exactly that of var. 

 texanus. 



Wing, ^, 4.30-4.40; 9, 4.35. Culmen, .60 -.65; tarsus, 1.15-1.20; middle toe, 

 1.05-1.10. 



Oreortyx pictus (III, 475). Dr. Cooper found these birds already paired 

 near the summit of the Sierra Nevada, where the snow was but half melted off, 

 and they scarcely descended below the limits of the snow in the coldest weather. 

 In July he saw young birds just hatched near Truckee, at an elevation of 6,000 

 feet. This was on the 24th. On the 28th another brood, a little older, was 

 seen at the foot of Mt. Stanford, about 8,000 feet above the sea. Most of the 

 broods, however, were nearly fledged at that time. Dr. Cooper also mentions 

 that he found this Quail not rare in the mountains east of San Diego above an 

 elevation of 3,800 feet. He thought, also, that he heard this bird in the Santa 

 Anna range east of Annaheim. It also exists in the Santa Inez Mountains, six- 

 teen miles east of San Buenaventura, at an altitude of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. 

 It seems to be confined to the zone of coniferous trees, rarely if ever coming below 

 them. Mr. Henshaw has obtained this species at Apache, in Arizona. 



Lophortyx gambeli (III, 482). Captain Bendire found this Quail breeding 

 in the vicinity of Tucson, in Arizona, near Rillito Creek, occasionally nesting in 

 situations above the ground. One nest, seen June 7, 1872, contained three fresh 

 eggs. It was two feet above the ground, on a willow stump, and in an exposed 

 place, near the creek. The nest was composed of the leaves of the cottonwood- 

 tree. In some instances he found as many as eighteen eggs in one nest. These 

 closely resemble the eggs of the California Quail, so much so as to be hardly dis- 

 tinguishable from them. They are all of a rounded oval shape, sharply tapering 

 at one end, and quite obtuse at the other. They measure 1.24 inches in length 

 by one inch in their largest breadth. Their ground-color varies from a deep cream 

 to a light drab. Some are sparingly marked with large and well-defined spots, 

 most of them circular in shape, and of a rich purplish-brown color. In others the 

 whole surface is closely sprinkled with minute spots of yellowish-brown, inter- 

 mingled with which are larger spots of a dark purple. This species was obtained 

 in Southern Utah by Mr. Henshaw. 



