48 AMERICAN GAME BIRD SHOOTING 



acter is so faintly marked as hardly to be noticed, and 

 when this is the case it is not easy to point out any dis- 

 tinctive character separating them from the Old World 

 group. The division, however, is a convenient one, and 

 the New World birds are sufficiently alike to be grouped 

 together. 



Though most numerous in tropical America, a num- 

 ber of beautiful species are found within the United 

 States. Such are the plumed quail of the California 

 mountains, the helmeted birds of the California low- 

 lands and of the interior, the scaled quail of the south- 

 west and the Massena, or Mearns, quail. 



In the United States and Mexico there are ten genera 

 with forty species and sub-species belonging to the 

 Odontophoridce. No members of the group range north 

 of the United States, except that the valley quail of 

 California has been introduced on Vancouver Island, 

 B. C, and that formerly the Virginia quail was found 

 in small numbers in southwestern Ontario. 



