206 Phillips, New England Bob-white. ■ [April 



Two cfcf and two 9 9 from Mt. Pleasant, S. C, near the type 

 locality are added. 



The old New England series is limited to birds collected near 

 Boston in the seventies, mostly in Mr. Brewster's collection, and 

 I am assured that the localities Belmont, Concord, and Brookline, 

 where this series was taken, were not affected by southern quail. 

 The wing measurement is large in both male and female, but the 

 other measurements do not show much size difference. Probably 

 in the flesh the birds were larger and heavier. One of these speci- 

 mens has a wing of 120 mm., which is maximum for all the quail 

 examined for the combined localities. 



The South Atlantic series measures slightly less in both sexes 

 than any other group, but the difference is surprisingly small. 

 The Maryland and Virginia series are pretty well up to the New 

 England standard and taken altogether the regions show far less 

 difference than I had been led to expect. 



Now the matter of coloring is not so easily settled as the size 

 question. The spring plumage of Bob-whites is much grayer than 

 the fall plumage, especially on the lower back and rump. The 

 typical and extreme Massachusetts birds have a very light buffy 

 appearance, the top of the head has very little black and the mantle 

 is apt to be plain colored. There is a marked tendency to a more 

 delicate barring on the under parts, and to an absence of barring 

 on the lower breast and abdomen. In females the barring is much 

 less heavy. In typical specimens of New England birds the 

 barring is by no means transverse as in Georgia and South Carolina 

 specimens, but very distinctly V-shaped, the pattern drawing out 

 more and more to a sharp point on the lower flanks. It must be 

 noticed, however, that our series shows no constant color difference 

 between North and South Atlantic birds till one reaches at least the 

 vicinity of Charleston, where specimens show a distinctly heavier 

 and more transverse barring over breast and abdomen. Also the 

 backs, scapulars, and tertials are darker in southern birds as well 

 as the whole top of the head. There is no way that I can see of 

 telling western from New England birds, while the Sing Sing, N. Y., 

 series is identical with the Maryland series. Variation is very con- 

 siderable, especially in the width of the barring on the lower parts, 

 and in the extent of the barring on the abdomen. There is one 



