THE OOLOGIST. 



41 



Partridges and Their Relatives. 



As there has been a great daal of 

 confusion in our country as to Part- 

 ridges, quails, grouse, and ptarmigans 

 il may be well to make a diagnosis of 

 bhe differentating points in these kinds 

 of gallinaceous birds. As a group or 

 order, they are strongly marked; and 

 may be associated with our common 

 Domestic fowl. In other words, they 

 are the wild hens. 



Quails and Partridges on the one 

 hand, and the grouse and the ptarmigan 

 on the other, are well differentiated 

 from each other; for the naked legs and 

 feet and naked scab-covered" nostrils of 

 the former, always mark them as dis- 

 tinct from the feathered legs or feather- 

 ed legs and feet and finely feathered 

 nostrils of the latter. 



Quails and Partridges, then, do not 

 have feathers on the feet and legs; and 

 no bird having such appendages should 

 be called a Partridge or Quail. But to 

 distinguish between the Quail and Part- 

 ridge is not so easy. In this country it 

 is the more difficult, from the fact that 

 In the strictest typical sense, we have 

 neither Partridges nor Quails, but birds 

 ■of such structural characters, as place 

 them between these two heading points 

 of classification. Ornithologists, how- 

 ever, are coming to decide, that the 

 short, thick, vaulted bills of our so call- 

 ed Quails in America, place them rather 

 with the Partridges. The Quails prop- 

 er of the Old World, have a longer, 

 straighter, and more alternated bill, a 

 longer and more pointed wing, and a 

 more slender leg than our so called 

 Quails. They are more particularly 

 birds of flight and of passage, and far 

 less of a scratching and running bird. 

 Our common Quail so-called, therefore, 

 £ind the elegant so-called Quails of 

 Western North America, are Partridges 

 rather than Quails; and should be de- 

 signated accordingly. 

 As to the Grouse and the Ptarmigan, 



the differentiation is easier, and we 

 have genuine representatives of the two 

 families in this country. The Ptarmi- 

 gan, genus lagopus or hare-foot, has the 

 toes feathered out to the claws, strik- 

 ingly like the foot of a hare; while the 

 Grouse has only the leg feathered, and 

 the claws pectinated with a sort of 

 scales. Generally, too, the Ptarmigan, 

 as it is a bird of the snowy mountain 

 regions, for which its foot, fitted with a 

 sort of snow-shoe, is so well adapted, 

 turns white in Avinter; while the Grouse 

 retains its color, and is not so boreal in 

 its habitat. 



Our Ruffed Grouse {Bonasa umbellus), 

 therefore, is not a Partridge, nor yet a 

 Pheasant, but a genuine Grouse; and 

 one of the most beautiful and interest- 

 ing of its kind. 



This is the substance of a discussion 

 before the Ornithologist Association at 

 Washington, D. C, Dec. 1, 1891. 



J. H. Langille. 



Notes on some Peculiar Eggs. 



Peculiarities occur so frequently in 

 the coloration of eggs as to be scarcely 

 worth recording as a rule, but the four 

 sets mentioned below differ so greatly 

 from the normal types as to merit a 

 brief description. 



Set a. Laughing Gull [Larus atri* 

 cilia). 



Two eggs. Groundcolor, now a clear 

 pale blue, much like Bluebird's, but 

 were originally somewhat darker, over 

 this a few light brown dots are scat- 

 tered, so small as to be scarcely notice- 

 able. 



Set b. Black Skimmer (Rhynchops 

 nigra). 



Two eggs. Color dull white, unspot- 

 ted. 



Set c. American Oystercatcher (Hce- 

 matopus palliatus) . 



. Two eggs. No. 1 normal in all re- 

 spects. No. 2, ground color darker 

 than usual, while the superficial color 



