494 NORTH AMElllCAN lUKDS. 



that country. They aiv iiiDri' scx'iahle and not so sliy as tlio otlier species 

 of this liiniily. Tiieir food appears to l)e principally insects. 



Mr. I )re.s.ser .states that this liini is locally known as the lllack Partritlj^e. 

 For some time he sonjiiht foi' it near San Antonio without success, hut ulti- 

 mately found it, in Noveniher, among the Uaiulera llill.s. In its haliits he 

 .states it is more like the Texan (i^uail than any other; hut on the wing it is 

 easily distinguished, it ilies .so heavily, though very swiftly. When dis- 

 turhcd, they scpuit very close, and will not move until approached very 

 closely, when they generally rise u]t from under one's !'eet. Hi' did not 

 meet with this (j)uail in any other part of Te.xas than Handera County, hut 

 was told that it is ahuiulant in the hilly country at the head of the Leona, 

 and that it is also found nt^ar Laredo. 



In some remarks on the hirds of Western Texas, puhlished in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Philadelphia Academy in ISol, Colonel McCall gives the first 

 ini'ormation to the public touching the haliits of this interesting species. 

 We learn from his narrative that it was not met with hy him iiefore cross- 

 ing the San I'edro IJiver, but that it was soon after seen in the rocky re- 

 gions into which he then entered ; and thence as I'ar as the Kio Pecos, 

 a tlistance of on(i hundred and forty miles westwardly, it was frequently 

 .seen, though it was not anywhere very common. This entire region is a 

 desert of great extent, north and south; the general face of the country is 

 level, and pi'oduces nothing but a s])arse growth of sand-plants. Water was 

 found only at long intervals, and lixcept at such points there was ajjparently 

 neither food nor cover. There, among projecting rocks or the borders of dry 

 gullies, or in loose scrub, this bird was met with by Colonel ^IcCall. 



The habits of this species appeared to him to be diiferent from those ol' 

 any other kind of Partridge he had ever met with. They were in coveys 

 of from eight to twelve individuals, and ai)peared to be sini])le and affection- 

 ate in dis]iosition. In feeding they separated lait little, kee[iing u]) all the 

 whihi a social chid: They were so gentle as to evince little m no alarm on 

 the apjiroach of man, hardly moving out of the way as they pas.sed, and 

 only running off or flying a kwx yards, even when half their number hail 

 been .shot. Cohaiel ]\IcCall was of the opinion that they might, with very 

 little ditticulty, be domesticated, though naturally inhabiting a barren waste 

 nowhere near the habitation of man. The call-note is spoken of as very 

 piHtuliar. The bird was not seen by his party after crossing the Pecos Ifiver. 

 Mr. (itmld, without any information in regard to the habits or economy of 

 this species, in his Monograph of American Partridges, judging from the 

 comjiarative shortness of the toes and the great development of the claws, 

 ventured the opinion that the habits would be found very different from 

 those of other members of the family, which opinion is thus confirmed. Mr. 

 Ca.ssin thought he could trace in the circular spots, numerous in the lower 

 part of the body, an analogy in character to the (iuinea-fowLs, which is fur- 

 ther shown by their habit of continually uttering their notes as they feed, 

 and by other similarity in their manners. 



