488 



NOirni AMKKICAN lilllDS. 



Sp. ("iiau. Iload willi a full, hioml, ilaUonctl crest of soft (•loni.'ali'd (i-atlwrs. I'lcvail- 

 iiijr ciiloi- pliiiiiliuous-gray, willi a tini' liliiisli cast on jiiiriiliiin ami nape, wliitisli on tlio 

 l)clly, llic ccntial jioition of which is inoiv or less lin;_'cil with hrowiiish ; soniotiincs a 

 conspicuous ahdoniinal patcli of dark rusty, the exposed surface of the wiiius tillered with 

 liirht ycllowish-hi'own, and very linely and almost iiiiiiercciiliMy inottli'il. Head and 

 throat witliout marking's, liirlit u'rayish-plunilieoiis; liunat tin,i;ed with ycllowish-hrown. 

 Featiiers of neck, ujipcr jtart of liac.'k, and under parts nencrally, excc|it on the sides and 

 liehin<l, with a narrow hut well-dclined inarjrin of lilackish, produciiiL,' tiie clleet of iia- 



hricated scales. Fi'athers on the sides 

 streaked centrally with white, linicr 

 ed.LTe of inner tcrtials, and tips of lonpf 

 feathers of the crest, whitish. Crissuin 

 rusty-while, streaked with rusty. Fe- 

 male similar. Lenjith, O.-'jO ; winir, 

 4.80; tail, 4.10. 



[l.Mi. Talilc-lands of Mexico and 

 valley of llio Grande of Texas. Most 

 alnnidant on the high hrokcn table- 

 lands and mesquite plains. 







H.VBiT.-!. This l)ii'(l was first tloscril)e(l as a Mexican species in 1830 liy !Mr. 

 A'igdvs. For a long while it has been an extremely rare species in col- 

 lectinns, and its liistory, habits, and distribution remained unknown until the 

 explorations ot' tlie naturalists 

 made in the surveys under the 

 direction of the national gov- 

 ernment. It was first noticed 

 witliin the territory of the 

 United States by Lieutenant 

 Abort, Topographical Engi- 

 neer, who, in his IJeport of the 

 examination of New Mexico, 

 furnishes sever.al notes in rela- 

 tion to this species. In No- 

 vember, 1840, he mentions 

 that, after having passed 

 through Las Casas, while descending through a crooked ravine strewed with 

 fragments of rocks, he saw several tlocks of this species. Tiiey were runring 

 along witli great velocity among the clumps of the kreosote jilant. At the 

 report of the gun oidy three or four rose u]), the rest seeming to depend 

 chiefly on their Heetnesa of foot. Their stomachs were found to l)e filled 

 with grass-seeds and hemipterous insects. 



Captain 8. (i. French, in notes (pioted by Mr. Cassin, mentions meeting 

 with tiiese birds, in tlie Siime year, near Camargo, on the IJio (Irande. At 

 Monterey none were seen ; but on tlie ])lains of Agua Nueva, a few miles 

 south of Saltillo, they were observed in ct)nsideral)le numbers. He after- 

 wards met with them on the ll^jjper Rio rrrande, in the vicinity of Kl Paso. 



Caltifteplit yfiiiitiiala. 



