m'cAULEY on birds of the red river of TEXAS. 689 



TETRAONID.E. 



CUPIDONIA CUPIDO PALLiDiciNOTUS, Ridgw. — Southern Pinnated 

 Grouse or Prairie Hen. 

 This magnificent game bird was first observed in traveling along the 

 road south from Fort Dodge, between the Cimarron and north fork of 

 the Canadian. It was abundant in coveys of from twenty to thirty ; 

 south of that less frequently seen. Beyond the Sweetwater, they were 

 not found, nor were they seen in any part of the lower sections visited, 

 until, on our return, we reached the rolling land north of McClellan 

 Creek. Tliis, the only one of the Grouse family proper we met with, 

 avoids the Staked Plain, and ventures near it only where all the condi- 

 tions of its prarie-life may be fulfilled. 



Ortyx virginiana, (L.) Bp. — Virginia Partridge or Quail. 



The habitat of this variety of the finest of game binds, extending over 

 the great western plains, reaches through that part of the Indian Terri- 

 tory we traversed and across the Pan Handle to the Upper Caiion region. 

 Strictly avoiding the Staked Plain, their range is south through Texas, 

 touching the eastern border of the plain itself, and thence down to some 

 point, perhaps as yet a matter of conjecture, where is found the northern 

 limit of var. iexanus. 



At the most western part of Mulberry Creek, about longitude 101*^, 

 two specimens were secured ; ten miles or more farther to the west, in 

 the bed of Eed River itself, several hundred feet below the level of the 

 plain, I found them with young, well fledged, and as lively as crickets, 

 June 11. In this latter place, the water was as vile and unwholesome 

 as an alkali drink, for a steady thing, is generally acknowledged to be. 

 Sixty miles farther up the river, our camps were by the stream in, 

 the cafion ; and up beyond, on rolling land along the Palo Duro and 

 Tierra Blanca, fine fresh water and rich grassy lands ; but in these sec- 

 tions we never flushed a Quail, nor did we ever hear the " bob-white", 

 so familiar farther east, during our incoming and return. The fine 

 execution of the familiar trick of the mother bird during nidification, 

 when an intruder approaches her home, is too well known to require 

 repetition, ft was interesting, however, to watch her movements when 

 she found her decoy unsuccessful. Walking one day through a cluster 

 of young cottonwoods, suddenly up jumped a hen, a half-dozen yards 

 ahead of me, and took sharply to my left, with her usual cries and bodily 

 agony. After going a few steps, and finding her stale decoy a failure, 

 she continued a pace or two, and, observing me still keep on directly 

 ahead, she altered her tune in a second. Forgetting the pain she 

 l)0ssessed a moment before, she changed her notes to a series of the 

 sharpest calls that a (Juail could utter, evidently signals to her partner, 

 wlierever he was. 



Tlie old gentleman, in obedience to the shari> remarks of his dame, 



