140 GAME BIRDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



The male lacks the white basal line of the Valley Ouail : " fore- 

 head black with whitish Hnes ; occiput chestnut ; nuchal and cer- 

 vical feathers with dark shaft lines, but few dark edging or none, 

 and no white specklings ; general color of upper parts clear ash, 

 the edging of the inner quills white ; forebreast like the back ; 

 under parts whitish, middle of belly with a large jet black patch ; 

 sides rich purplish chestnut, with sharp white stripes ; vent, flanks 

 and crissum white with dusky streaks. Besides lacking the defi- 

 nite head markings, the female wants the black abdominal area, 

 where the feathers are whitish with dark lengthwise touches." 



Callipepla squamata. — Gray. Scaled Partridge, Blue Quail. 



The Blue Quail, like all the other western and south-western 

 species with which we have to do, prefers to trust for safety to its 

 powers of running, rather than those of flight. Indeed there is no 

 difficulty whatever in getting pot shots at any of these uneducated 

 birds, the great trouble being to start them from the ground. This 

 species is about the size of our eastern quail, but differs widely 

 from it in color. It has a short full crest, is greyish blue above, 

 paler below, the sides striped with white, and the whole plumage 

 marked with semicircular black edgings of the feathers, which 

 give it a scaled appearance ; the inner edges of the inner quills, 

 and the end of the crest are white. The under tail coverts red- 

 dish brown with dark streaks. The Blue Quail is found very 

 abundantly in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and to the southward. 



Cyrtonyx massena. — Gould. Massena Quail. 



This most beautiful species is also by far the most gentle and 

 unsuspicious of our Quails, and will permit a very close approach 

 by man, showing little or no fear of what most animals know so 

 well to be their most deadly enemy. While feeding, the Massena 

 Quail keep close together, and constantly utter a soft clucking 

 note as though talking to one another. 



This species is about the size of our Quail of the East. Its 

 head is ornamented with a beautifully full soft occipital crest. 

 The head of the male is singularly striped with black and white ; 

 the upper parts are varied with black, white and tawny, and with 

 paired black spots on the wings. The under parts are velvety 



