American Bob Whites and Quails 



By DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C.M.Z.S. 



Fellow Amer. Ornith. Union, Hon. Member Royal Australasian Ornith. Union, Etc. 

 WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR 



PART I INTRODUCTION 



N former articles of mine, 

 published in the Outer's 

 Book, I have described 

 and figured all of our 

 United States species of 

 ducks and grouse, with 

 the various allies of the 

 latter group. Similar pa- 

 pers have also been pre- 

 pared and illustrated on the American 

 species of geese, and these will appear in 

 this magazine later on this year. 



It is my intention, in the present series 

 , of articles, to describe, figure, and give data, 

 [for the purpose of identification, of all of 

 Lour species of bob-whites and quails. For- 

 Ptunately I can illustrate these articles through- 

 lout with reproductions of photographs made 

 Iby myself direct from the living birds, and for 

 rthe opportunity to do this I am indebted 

 to Mr. Edward S. Schmid, the veteran bird 

 ^fancier of Washington, D. C. There are 

 but two exceptions to this statement, one 

 being the picture presented of Mearns' quail, 

 which is reproduced from a photograph I 

 made of this species of a specimen belonging 

 the United States National Museum a 

 favor for which I must thank the late Dr. 

 r. Brown Goode. The second exception is 

 seen in the beautiful picture, illustrating the 

 ."fjTCsent Part, of a male bob-white, taken in 

 the act of incubating. This is reproduced 

 |Hn a photograph from life, made some time 

 .during the middle of August, 1901, by Mr. 

 George E. Moulthrope, of Bristol, Con- 

 $aecticut, where this interesting case occurred. 

 Our bob-whites are not true quails, the 

 latter birds being well exemplified in the 

 quail of Europe, a species I shall touch 

 upon, and present figures of from life, further 

 on in the present series of articles. Nor are 

 ir bob-whites true partridges, as the latter 

 belong to the genus Perdix, an excellent 

 example of which is seen in the common 

 j gray partridge of Europe (Perdix cinerea). 



"Colin" is also a name applied to our bob- 

 whites, and sometimes even made to include 

 the western quails, as the "mountain" and 

 "valley" species. English ornithologists are 

 especially given to the use of this term with 

 respect to our bob-whites, while we very 

 rarely hear it used in this country. Further 

 on we shall see that all of our bob-whites are 

 contained in the genus Colinus hence 'colin.' 

 The origin of this word is interesting, for we 

 find it to be derived from the old French 

 Colin, and hence the surname Collins in 

 English (Colas is the diminutive of Nicolas). 



Bob-whites are known as "partridges" 

 throughout the Southern States; they are 

 called "quails" in the Middle Atlantic States 

 and in New England, or in such districts 

 where the ruffed grouse is called a partridge, 

 the latter being known as a pheasant in 

 the south. This is all well enough so long as 

 the fact is understood that we have no true 

 partridges in the United States; that the 

 habitats of the true quails are in the Old 

 World; that the birds we call pheasants in 

 the East are grouse, and that the pheasants 

 (Phasianidce) are Asiatic forms, though the 

 family includes the pea-fowls, the wild and 

 domestic fowls or chickens, the peacock and 

 their various allies. 



All of our game birds of these groups are 

 arrayed in the Supersuborder (XV) GALLI- 

 FORMES and belong in the suborder (XXIV) 

 Gallince; in this suborder we have the family 

 (V) Odontophorida, created to contain all of 

 our bob-whites and quails. This classifica- 

 tion takes into consideration the structure 

 or morphology of these birds rather than a 

 grouping of them according to the first 

 chapter of Genesis. 



Birds of this family represent and have 

 been arrayed in five well-marked and distinct 

 genera; these have been named Colinus, 

 Oreortyx, Callipepla, Lophortyx, and Crytonyx, 

 and I shall take them up in this sequence in 

 the remaining parts of the present series of 



248 



