THE MAS3ENA PARTRIDGE. 



39 



elevation of about 8,000 foot I flushed the female almost directly under mv 

 feet and shot it. The hillside was covered in places with patches of pine-, 

 and aspens, as well as with low bushes and grasses. The nest was directlv 

 under a dead limb which was grown over with dead grass, and so com- 

 pletely hidden that until I had removed the limb and some of the ^rass it 

 was not discernible at all. The nest was sunken in the "-round, and com- 

 posed of small grass steins, arched over, and the bird could only enter it liv 

 a long tunnel leading to it from under the limb and the grass growing 

 around it. The eggs were eight in number and naturally white, but thev 

 were badly stained by the damp ground, their color being now a brownish 

 white. They were almost hatched. The female must have remained on 

 them all the time to have caused such uniform incubation and preserved 

 the eggs from spoiling by the excessive dampness. 



"On July 27 I met with a female and brood of about a dozen young. 

 The entire family was in view when I at first saw them crossing an old trail. 

 They at once entered some dense bushes, and I failed to capture or even see 

 any of them again. The young were probably about a week old. On Aii<nist 

 31 I discovered another brood, about a dozen in number, which were but a 

 few days out of the nest. I secured one of the young which must have been 

 hatched late in the month." 



Mr. G. W. Todd writes me as follows: "I first met with the Massena Par- 

 tridge in Handera County, Texas, in 1883, where they very scarce, and I 

 learned but little of its habits for a long time. They are verv simple and 

 unsuspicious, and apparently live so much in such barren and waste places that 

 they do not see enough of man to make them afraid. On seeing a person they 

 general! v squat at once, or run a little way and hide. They will hardly flv 

 until one is almost on them, but when they finally do fly they go much further 

 than either the Texan Bob White or the Scaled Partridge, and on alighting 

 they run rapidly for a little dista'nce and then squat again, generally flushing- 

 easier the second time. It is rare to see more than six together; two or three 

 are more often met with. In the fall of 1886 I found a covey of five on a wet 

 and misty day, and killed three of them with a Winchester rifle before the 

 remaining two flew. I never found their iiest nor met with small young until 

 this year. 1 saw but a single young bird this season, and this seemed to be 

 entirely alone. They are not very abundant here, and are always found in the 

 most ban-en places, among rocks and wastes, where even the pricklv pear is 

 stunted, and no bush grows over 3 feet high. When scared they utter a kind of 

 whistling sound, a curious combination between a chuckle and a whistle, and 

 while flying they make a noise a good deal like a Prairie lien, though softer 

 and less loud, like 'chuc-clmc-chuc' rapidly repeated. 



"The only nest of this species I have ever seen was situated under tin- 

 edge of a big bunch of a coarse specie of grass, known as 'hickory grass.' This 

 o-rass "-rows out from the center and hangs over on all sides until the blades 



O o 



touch the "round. It is a round, hard-stemmed grass, and only grows mi the 



