480 NORTH AMKiaCAN IllltDH. 



11 ciiiiiiiiiiii llcii, imtl I'duiiiI 111) (lin'uiilty in (Iniiicsticiitini,' llioni, so tlmt tlipy 

 ii.ssiu'iiilcil IVi'dy witli tliu liiiriiyiml luwls. Tlic t'uj,'^, In* adils, mv white, or 

 yi'llowish-wliitf, witii limwii spots, miil wv.w iiutclicil out in twciity-iour 

 (lays. Tilt' nest is siiid to lie a ratliiT v\u\v stniclim', alioiit ciiilit iiiclios 

 wide, and is usually liiddt'ii in tho ^'rass. Tiii- i',i,%'.s nunilicr Ironi twolvo to 

 soviMitoen. 



Captain S. (I. h'rt'iieli, nuot d liy Mr. Cassin, writes that ho met with this 

 spci'ics on the Itio (irandc, seventy niilcs lielitw I'll I'aso, and from that 

 point to the place named their numliers constantly increased. They iip- 

 ]>eared to he partial to the abodes of man, and were very numerous alioiit 

 the old and decayed Imildinj^'s, j,'ardens, Helds, and vineyards around Pre- 

 sidio, Fsoleta, and Kl I'aso. During,' his stay there in the summer of ISol, 

 every iiKU'iiin^' and evenin.i,' their welcome call was heard all around ; and at 

 early and late hours they were constantly to be found in the sandy roads 

 and paths near the villajfes and farms. In the middle of the hot summer 

 days, however, they rested in the sand, under the siiade and jirotectioii of 

 the thick chaparral. Wiicn disturljcd, they j^lided thi'ounh the bushes very 

 swiftly, sehlom resovtiii;^ to lli;^ht, uttering a jteeuliar chirjiini,' note. The 

 parents would utter the same cliirpiiii,' cry whenever an iitti'mi)t was made 

 to capture their younL,^ 'i'lie malis and fi!male bird were always found with 

 the youiii,', showing,' much alfection for them, and even endeavoring to attract 

 attention away fro.n them by their actions and cries. 



Colonel Met 'all (I'roc. Phil. Ac, June, ISfd) also gives an account of this 

 bird, as met with by him in Western Te.xas, between San Antonio and the 

 iJio (Jrande Iliver, as well as in New Mexico, lie did not fall in with it 

 until he had reached the Limjiia Iliver, a hundred miles west of the I'eeos, 

 in Texas, where the Acacia (jlamlnhn^tt was more or less common, and the 

 mes(juite grasses and other plants bearing nutritious seeds were abundant. 

 There they were very niimerous and very fat, and much disjiosed to seek 

 the farms and cultivate the ac(juaintance of man. About the rancho of 

 Mr. White, near Kl Paso, he I'ound tliem very numerous, and, in Hocks of 

 fifty or a hundred, resorting morning and evening to the barnyard, feeding 

 around the grain-stacks in company with the poultry, and receiving their 

 portion from the hand of the owner. He found them distributed through 

 the country from the Limpia to the Rio (irande, and along the latter river 

 from Eagle Spring Pass to Dona Ana. 



The same careful observer, in a communication to Mr. Cassin, gives the 

 western limit of this species. He thinks it is confined to a narrow belt of 

 country between the .'51st and iUth parallels of latitude, from the Pecos 

 Iliver, in Texas, to the Sierra Nevada and the contiguous desert in Califor- 

 nia. It has not been found on the western side of these mountains. Colonel 

 McCall met with it at xilamo Mucho, forty-four miles west of the Colorado 

 Iliver. West of this stretches a desolate waste of sand, — a barrier which 

 effectually separates this s])ecies from its ally, the California Quail. 



