42 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
times approaches the farmers’ buildings for the grain that 
may be scattered about. Its flesh is very palatable, and 
many are sold in the markets of the cities on the Pacific 
Coast, where I have frequently seen them hanging in 
large bunches. Many are shot by sportsmen over dogs, 
but more are taken, both alive and dead, in traps and 
snares of many kinds. The nest is the usual slight 
depression in the ground, hidden in the grass or under 
bushes or logs, or anything that will afford the requisite 
privacy and shelter, and the eggs, in number from eight 
to perhaps a dozen, are ovate in shape, grading from a 
pale cream to a rich buff in color, and without spots. In 
size they average, according to Bendire, 34.5 by 26 milli- 
meters. 
ORFORTV A PICTUS. 
Geographical Distribution.—From the Bay of San Francisco, 
California, through Oregon and Washington. Introduced on 
Vancouver Island. 
Adult Male.—Top of head, sides of neck and breast, plumbe- 
ous; entire upper parts, upper tail-coverts, and wings, deep 
olive-brown, in some specimens with a rufous tinge, especially 
upon the wings; crest of lengthened straight feathers, black ; 
chin, white ; entire throat, rich chestnut, bordered on the sides 
with black, and separated from the olive ear-coverts and bluish 
neck by a conspicuous white line ; a white spot behind the eye ; 
flanks, deep chestnut, broadly barred with black and white, the 
latter widest and most conspicuous ; middle of belly, white ; 
under tail-coverts black, the feathers with a central line of deep 
chestnut ; tail, olive-brown, mottled with black ; inner edges 
of tertials broadly marked with ochraceous, forming a line on each 
side of the rump; bill, black. Total length about 10 inches, 
wing, 58; tail, 34; tarsus, 12; bill on culmen, 2, 
There seems to be considerable variation in the color of the 
inner edges of the tertials, some birds having them white tinged 
with deep buff or ochraceous, and this is confined mainly toward 
the tips of the feathers ; while in others the white portion is more 
