THE VIRGINIA PARTRIDGE. 393 



FAMILY PEEDICID^E. THE PARTRIDGES. 



Nostrils protected by a naked scale ; the tarsi bare and scutellate. 



The Perdicidce differ from the Grouse in the bare legs and naked nasal fossae ; 

 they are much smaller in size and more abundant in species ; they are widely dis- 

 tributed over the surface of the globe, a large number belonging to America, where 

 the sub-families have no Old-World representatives whatever; the head seldom, if 

 ever, shows the naked space around and above the eye, so common in the Tetraonidce ; 

 and the sides of the toes scarcely exhibit the peculiar pectination formed by a suc- 

 cession of small scales or plates. 



Sub-Family ORTYGINJS. 



Bill stout; the lower mandible more or less bidentate on each side near the end. 



The Ortygina of Bonaparte, or Odontophorince of other authors, are characterized 

 as a group by the bidentation on either side of the edge of lower mandible, usually 

 concealed in the closed mouth, and sometimes scarcely appreciable; the bill is short, 

 and rather high at base, stouter and shorter than what is usually seen in Old- 

 World partridges ; the culmen is curved from the base ; the tip of the bill broad, 

 and overlapping the end of the lower mandible; the nasal groove is short; the tail is 

 rather broad and long. * 



ORTYX, STEPHENS. 



Ortyx, STEPHENS, Shaw's Gen. Zool., XI. (1819). (Type Tetrao Virginianus, L.) 



Bill stout; head entirety without any crest; tail short, scarcely more than half 



the wing, composed of moderately soft feathers ; wings normal ; legs developed, the 



toes reaching considerably beyond the tip of the tail ; the lateral toes short, equal, 



their claws falling decidedly short of the base of the middle claw. 



OETYX VIRGINIANUS. . 

 The Virginia Partridge; Quail; Bob-white. 



Tetrao Virginianus, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., I. (1766) 277. 



Perdix Virginlana, Wilson. Am. Orn., VI. (1812) 21. Aud. Orn. Biog., I. 

 (1831) 388; V. (1839) 664. 



Ortyx Vlrginiana, Jardine. Nat. Lib. Birds, IV. ; Game Birds, 101. 

 Perdix ( Colinla) Virginiana, Nuttall. Man., I. (1832) 646. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Forehead, and line through the eye and along the side of the neck, with chin 

 and throat, white ; a band of black across the vertex, and extending backwards on 

 the sides, within the white, and another from the maxilla beneath the eye, and 

 crossing on the lower part of the throat; the under parts are white, tinged with 

 brown anteriorly, each feather with several narrow, obtusely V-shaped bands of 



