GALLINACEOUS BIRDS 



GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. Order X. GALLING 

 GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, ETC. Family TETRAONIDAE 



The members of this family are birds of robust form, subdued (not brightly 

 colored) plumage, comparatively short legs and necks; the tarsi and toes are 

 feathered in the Ptarmigan, the tarsi, only, feathered in the Grouse, and the 

 tarsi and toes bare in the Partridges and Bob-whites. They feed upon berries, 

 buds, grain and insects. 



289. BOB-WHITE. 



Colinus virginianus virginianus. 



Range. United States east ot North Dakota and 

 Texas and from the southern British Provinces to 

 the Gulf coast. 



A celebrated "game bird" which has been hunt- 

 ed so assiduously in New England that it is upon 

 the verge of extermination, and the covers have 

 to be continually replenished with birds trapped 

 in the south and west. They frequent open fields, 

 which have a luxuriant 

 growth of weeds, or 

 grain fields in the fall. 

 Their nests are built 

 along the roadsides, or 

 beside stonewalls or 

 any place affording sat- 

 isfactory shelter. The 

 nest is made of dried 

 grasses and is arched 

 over with grass or 

 as to conceal the eggs, 

 eggs, 

 when 



White. 



overhanging leaves 



They lay from ten to twenty pure white 



which are very frequently nest stained 



so 



found. Size 1.20 x .95. Often two or three broods 

 are raised in a season, but frequently one or more 

 broods are destroyed by rainy weather. 



289a. FLORIDA BOB-WHITE. 

 Colinus virginianus floridanus. 



Range. This sub-species, which is found in the 

 southern half of Florida, is very much darker 

 than the northern Bob-white, and is numerously 

 barred below with black. Its nesting habits and 

 eggs are identical with those of the preceding. 



289b. TEXAS BOB- WHITE. Colinus virginianus texanus. 



Range. Texas ; casually north to Kansas. A grayer variety of the Bob-white, 

 The nesting habits and eggs are the same as those of the Bob-white, except that 

 the eggs may average a trifle smaller. Size 1.18 x .92. 



291. MASKED BOB-WHITE. Colinus ridgwayi. 



Range. Sonoran region of Mexico north to southern Arizona. 



The female of this species is like that of the Texan Bob-white. Their nesting 

 habits and eggs are in all respects like those of the other Bob-whites. Size of 

 eggs, 1.20 x. 95. 



175 



Bobwhite. 

 Florida Bobwhite. 

 Masked Bobwhite. 



