SCALED, PARTRIDGE: 
CALED Partridge, Blue, White Top-Knot, and White 
Crested Quail, by all of which names this species 1s 
known, is found from western Texas, through New 
Mexico to southern Arizona in the United States, and 
also south into northern Mexico. North and east of 
the White and Mogallon mountains it does not seem 
to go, while Fanin County, Texas, and the Colorado 
River in Arizona, are the eastern and western limits of its 
dispersion within our boundaries. My experience with 
this beautiful bird has been gained in New Mexico, in 
the southern portions, on the mesas lying near the Mo- 
gallon Mountains, and westward into Arizona. It does 
not frequent timber, but dwells in the open, on the high 
plateaus, where the cactus grows, and for this reason it 
is sometimes known as the Cactus Quail. It seems to 
be independent of water, and frequents dry and sandy 
districts, where vegetation is exceedingly sparse, indeed 
almost absent, and where there is nothing to shelter it 
either from the heat or its enemies, save a few clumps of 
cacti, yuccas, and similar stunted plants, scattered over 
the plain; and the more spiny and thorny the bushes 
the more the Blue Quail loves to frequent them. 
This species goes in flocks sometimes of considerable 
size, several broods probably joining together, and I have 
always found them exceedingly shy and wary, commenc- 
ing to run as soon as my presence was discovered. They 
usually went in Indian file, following some one bird that 
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