270 AMERICAN QUAIL 



Some are strikingly unlike our bird with which, however, they have 

 been shown by Nelson to be connected by a number of intergrading 

 races. All, so far as I am aware, have the characteristic "bob-white" 

 call, and I have even heard this note uttered by the Black-throated 

 Bob-white of Yucatan and Crested Bob-white of Colombia, both 

 members of a different genus (Eupsychortyx) . Voice is here, therefore, 

 evidently more stable than color. 



1897. ELLIOT, D. G., Gallinaceous Game-Birds of North America, 8vo, 

 220; plls. 46. (Francis Harper.) 1900. DWIGHT, J., JR., The Moult of 

 North American Tetraonidse, Auk, XVII, 34-51; 143-166. 1902. SANDYS, 

 E. and VANDYKE, T. S., Upland Game Birds, 8vo. 429; plls. 9 (Macmillan). 

 1903. HUNTINGTON, D. W., Our Feathered Game, 8vo. 396; plls. 37. 

 1907. RICH, W. H., Feathered Game of the Northeast, 8vo. 430; plls. 87. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



I. Tarsi bare .... 289. BOB-WHITE. 289a. FLORIDA BOB-WHITE. 

 II. Tarsi not bare. 



1. Toes bare. 



A. Upper third or half of tarsi feathered. 



300. RUFFED GROUSE. 300a. CANADA RUFFED GROUSE. 



B. Tarsi entirely feathered. 



a. With bunches of elongated, stiffened feathers springing from 



either side of the neck. 305. PRAIRIE HEN. 306. HEATH HEN. 



b. Feathers of neck normal. 



b l . Outer web of primaries spotted with white. 



3086. PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE and subsp. 

 b 2 . Primaries not spotted with white . . SPRUCE PARTRIDGES. 



2. Tarsi and toes entirely feathered PTARMIGANS. 



289. Colinus virginianus virginianus (Linn.}. BOB-WHITE. Ad. & in 

 winter. Upperparts varying from reddish brown to chestnut; interscapulars 

 with broken and sometimes complete black bars; inner vane of tertials 

 widely margined with cream-buff; rump grayish brown, finely mottled, and 

 with a few streaks of blackish; tail ashy gray, the inner feathers finely 

 mottled with buffy; front of crown, a band from bill to beneath eye, and a 

 band on upper breast black; throat arid a broad line from bill over eye white; 

 sides rufous-chestnut, margined with black and white; lower breast and 

 belly white barred with black. Ad. 9 in winter. Similar, but the throat 

 and line over the eye, forehead, and lores pale ochraceous-buff; little or no 

 black on the upper breast. Summer examples of both sexes have the crown 

 blacker, the buffy markings generally paler. L., lO'OO; W., 4*50; T., 2'50; 

 B. from N., '35. 



Range. Upper Sonoran and s. half of Transition zones of e. N. A. 

 from S. D., s. Minn., s. Ont., and sw. Maine s. to e. and n. Tex., the Gulf 

 coast, and n. Fla., w. to e. Colo; introduced in cen. Colo., N. M., Utah, 

 Idaho, Calif., Ore., and Wash. 



Washington, common P. R. Ossining, common P. R. Cambridge, 

 P. R., sometimes abundant. N. Ohio, not common P. R. Glen Ellyn, rare 

 P. R. SE. Minn., common P. R. 



Nest, of grasses, usually arched, on the ground in bushy field borders, 

 etc. Eggs, 10-18, white, conical, 1'20 x '95. Date, Charleston, S. C., May 

 22; Shelter Is., N. Y., June 2; Cambridge, June 20; Licking Co., Ohio., 

 May 22; Mitchell Bay, Ont., June 5; se. Minn., June 17. 



Taking the Old- World species of the genera Coturnix and Caccabis 

 as the types respectively of Quails and Partridges, neither of these lat- 



