AMERICAN PARTRIDGES AND QUAILS 



2203 



amous, the female only attending to the duties of incubation, while the male, in 

 addition to neglecting such labors, is even reported to destroy the eggs and young 

 chicks. Mr. Brown, writing of these turkeys, observes, that "I am of the belief 

 that they raise two broods of young in a season, as I have seen almost all sizes in 

 the masting season (October), when they congregate in large numbers in the canons 

 to feed on a small bitter acorn, common to the canons and parks of Southern Arizona 

 and southward. I have seen their roosting places at night, in sycamore trees; I 

 also saw one in an oak grove on the side of a hill, but they appear more to favor the 

 canons. ' ' 



Distinguished from their Old- World allies by the tooth-like proc- 

 esses on the edge of the lower mandible, these birds constitute a sepa- 

 Partndges 



and Quails rate subfamily (Odontopkorina) t represented by eleven genera, con- 

 taining nearly fifty species, the largest form being about the size of the 

 common partridge, while the 

 smallest is inferior in size to 

 the migratory quail. In the 

 majority of this group the bill 

 is stout and grouse-like, and 

 most have a longer or shorter 

 crest. Of the three large par- 

 tridges (Pendrortysc) inhabit- 

 ing Central America, from 

 Southern Mexico to Costa 

 Rica, little need be said. They 

 are rather handsome birds (es- 

 pecially D. macrurux), with 

 tails as long as the wing, or 

 nearly so. The scaled par- 

 tridges (Callipepla) are easily 

 recognized by their short 

 crests, and gray and black 

 margined plumage, producing 

 a beautiful scaled appearance. 

 They are met with in the 

 Southwestern United States 

 and Mexico. Specially attrac- 

 tive is the mountain partridge 



(Oreortyx pictus] from the Western States of North America, with the crest com- 

 posed of two very long black feathers, the head, neck, mantle, and breast being 

 gray, the rest of the upper parts olive brown, the throat and fore part of the 

 neck deep chestnut margined with white, and the sides and flanks similarly 

 colored, but irregularly barred with black and white. One of the handsomest 

 and most familiar members of the group is the Californian quail (Lophortyx 

 calif ornicus) , often seen in aviaries, and at once distinguished by its conspicuous 

 crest of black club-shaped feathers. In the cock the forehead is buff, the rest of the 



COMMON TURKEY. 



