216 CHAPTERS ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 



and breeds wherever found." A subspecies of this form is also 

 called the valley partridge (C. c. vallicola), but it is a gayer-col- 

 ored bird, with a paler-tinted plumage and a different range. It 

 inhabits the valleys of the mountains and foothills of the interior 

 of the State of California, especially the Sierra Nevadas as far 

 south as Cape St. Lucas, and eastward to the Panamint moun- 

 tains. In western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and throughout 

 the southern portions of California, Nevada, and Utah; in the 

 valley of the Colorado, and thence southward into northwestern 

 Mexico, we meet with Gambel's partridge (C. gambelii), a de- 

 served favorite and a very handsome species. 



Finally, this list of very interesting game birds is completed 

 by the Massena Partridge (Cyrtonyx montezumce), which is by far 

 one of the very finest and handsomest species in the United 

 States. Geographically, it is distributed over the tablelands of 

 Mexico, from the city of Mexico north to western Texas, and is 

 also found in Arizona and New Mexico. It is a strikingly col- 

 ored species and peculiarly marked in plumage, as will be ob- 

 served in my figure of it that illustrates the present chapter. In 

 Arizona and New Mexico they call this Partridge the " Fool 

 Quail," while in western Texas it is known as the Black-bellied 

 Quail, or simply as the " Black." I have never shot this bird, but 

 while in New 7 Mexico a number of years ago I was presented with 

 some specimens of it in the flesh that had been killed only a few 

 days before by Colonel Bates, of the Thirteenth U. S. Infantry. 

 At the time I thought them to be among the handsomest game 

 birds I had ever had in my hands. 



In reference to the nidification and habits of the Massena Par- 

 tridge, Mr. G. W. Todd wrote Major Bendire to the following ef- 

 fect : " I first met with the Massena Partridge in Bandera County, 

 Texas, in 1883, where they were very scarce, and I learned but 

 little of its habits for a long time. They are very simple and un- 

 suspicious, 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 generally squat at once, or run 

 a little way and hide. They will hardly fly 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 distance and then squat 

 ji^Jiin, generally flushing easier the second time. It is rare to see 

 more than six together; two or three are more often met with. 



