THE AUK : 



A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Vol. XXI. April, 1904. No. 2. 



MASKED BOB-WHITE {COLTNUS RIDGWAYI). 



BY HERBERT BROWN. 



One of the rare, if not the rarest, native birds in Arizona to-day 

 is the Masked Bob-white (^Colinus ridgwayi). It is not only rare 

 in Arizona but also in the Mexican State of Sonora, the original 

 habitat of the bird. For the past several years it has been safe- 

 guarded by law in this Territory, but unfortunately there are none 

 left to protect. 



I have been told by men who were familiar with the Sonoite and 

 Santa Cruz valleys, in the early sixties, that these birds were then 

 common thereabouts. I have also been told that "in early days" 

 they were plentiful in Ramsey's Caiion in the Huachucas, and also 

 on the Babacomori, a valley intervening between the Huachuca 

 and Harshaw ranges. I remember hearing of them being there 

 in 1 88 1, but did not see them. Some ten years ago a market 

 collector worked the Ramsey Caiion country and reported that he 

 had not only taken the bird but an egg also. That he did these 

 things I am extremely doubtful. To say positively that he did 

 not would be to bump against a serious proposition, but he so 

 warped the truth concerning other alleged remarkable finds that 

 the late Major Bendire, one of the most honorable of men, upon 

 the discovery of attempted fraud, refused further to examine mate- 

 rial sent him by the party in question. I am, however, of the 

 belief that these birds were in the caiion when white men first 



