478 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Noviula, in tlie vicinity ot (!enoa and Carson City, and also in the mountain- 

 ranges lying iniuit'diately to the eastward of tlie Sierra. It was (juite rare 

 and very diHicult to discover, and when found was generally met with acci- 

 dentally. He oljtiiined it in November in the thick cha])arral at the eastern 

 base of tlie Sierra Nevada. In May he secured a pair in the cedar woods a 

 little to the eastward of Carson City, and in December a tlock was met with 

 on the Comstock Mountains near Pyrandd Lake. Its call-note when a 

 tlock is scattered is almost exactly like that of a Hen-Turkey, only propor- 

 tionally weaker. When a Hook is startled, they utter a confused chuckling 

 note, something like that of the connuon eastern Quail. The male has a 

 very pleasant crowing-note, which sounds some like koo-hvo-kuuc. The 

 settlers in Nevada say that, previous to the settlement of that coiuitiy by 

 the whites, this Quail was not found east of the .Sierra Nevada, and alUrm 

 that they followed the Avagon-roads over the mountains, in the rear of trains 

 and wagons, for the purpose of picking up the grain scattered along the 

 rcjad. Mr. Itidgway does not give full credit to the truth of these state- 

 ments, as he was informed l)y tlie Indians at Pyramid Lake, that, within 

 the memory of the oldest members of their tribe, it had always been found 

 in that vicinity. 



An egg of this species taken l)y Dr. Canfield, neai- Monterey, California, 

 measures 1.45 inches in length by 1.10 in breadth. It is oval in shape ; one 

 end is considerably more pointed than the other. It is of a very rich cream- 

 color, with a reddish shading, and unspotted. 



Genus LOFHORTYX, Bonap.vhte. 



Lophorlijy, Boxat. Ooog. k Coiuii. List, 1838. (Tj'pc, Tdrao califor>iicu.i, .Shaw.) 



Gf.<j. Char. Iload with a crest of longtlieneil feathers .springing from the vertex, the 

 .shafts in tlie same vi.'rtical plane, and the webs roof-shaped and overlapping each other ; 



the number varies from two to six 

 or more ; they widen to the tip, 

 where they are slightly recurved. 

 Tail lengthened and graduated, nearly 

 as long as the wing, composed of 

 twelve stifT feathers. Wings with the 

 tertials not as long as the prima- 

 ries ; the coverts without any unusual 

 development. Claws rather short ; the 

 lateral reaching to, but scarcely 

 beyond the liase of the middle ; the 

 .Sexes very different. 



Lophortyx mlifnmicus. 



outstretched toe not reaching the tip of the tail. 



The two North American species of the genus have the anterior half of 

 the body, and the upper parts generally, plumbeous ; the feathers of neck 

 above, and on the sides, pointed and margined with black. There is a white 

 bar across the head above, between the eyes, which, i)a8sing backwards, is 



