232 GALLIFORMES CHAP. 
chestnut and the abdomen black. Dactylortyx thoracicus of Central 
America has brown upper parts, with black blotches and rufous 
and buff mottlings; the superciliary stripes, cheeks, and throat 
are chestnut, with a black patch on each side of the last; the- 
under surface is reddish-grey with white shaft-stripes. In the 
hen the chestnut is replaced by whitish. The crest is not so 
full as in Odontophorus, of which some fourteen species extend 
from South Mexico to Bolivia and South Brazil. 0. guianensis, 
ranging from Panama to Bolivia and Amazonia, has the head and 
throat mainly chestnut, the neck and mantle grey, the lower back 
reddish-brown—all except the grey portions being marked with 
buff and black ; the mid-throat is grey, the under parts orange- 
brown, with dusky barring on the chest and sides. The naked 
orbits are reddish; the bill is black, the feet are rather lighter, 
as in the Sub-family generally. Rhynchortyx spodiostethus of 
Veragua and Panama has the crown brown, the rest of the head 
chiefly rusty-red, the mantle grey and brown, the lower back buff 
relieved by grey and black, the wings more chestnut, the lower 
parts dark grey, with white and buff centres to the throat and 
breast respectively, and black-barred flanks. £&. cinetus of 
Veragua has a rufous chest and olive-brown cheeks. 
As an instance of the habits we may take Ortyx virginianus, 
called Bob-white from the shrill triple whistle of the male, 
which resembles “Ah-bob-white.” It is a wary denizen of 
open woods and pastures, found in coveys, and roosting on 
the ground, though habitually taking refuge in trees, where 
it crouches upon the branches. It runs very swiftly, but. rises, 
when hard pressed, with a whirring noise to fly for a short 
distance. The food consists of succulent shoots, seeds, berries, 
acorns, beech-nuts, and insects; the nest is imbedded in grass or 
placed at the foot of a tree, and is made of a little herbage, which 
may even arch over it; the white or drab eggs number from nine 
to eighteen. The male is said to assist in incubation, two broods 
being occasionally reared in a season. The female utters a clucking 
sound, and will feign lameness when with her brood. 
Other forms prefer pine-forests, rocky ground, or dry sandy 
flats overgrown with cactus and sage-brush ; their cries being in 
some cases louder or more guttural, while the eggs may be 
blotched or spotted with reddish-brown. Nests have even been 
recorded low down in trees. Ortyx virginianus has been intro- 
