2 THE NIDOLOGIST 
The Eggs of Cyrtonyx. 
BY DR. R. W, SHUFELDT. 
Cyrtonyx montezumae, known to us in the 
vernacular tongue as the Massena Partridge 
is one of the very handsomest and at the 
same time one of the most conspicuously 
marked of the smaller gallinaceous game 
birds of this country. All over Arizona 
this bird is known as the ‘‘Fool Quail,’’ 
while in Texas the gunners call it the 
“Black-bellied Quail,’ or, for short, the 
“Black’’ simply. It was originally des- 
cribed as Ortiz montezumae by Vigors in the 
‘Zoological Journal’ in 1830, and consequent- 
ly has been known to science for a period 
of nearly seventy years. So far as at pre- 
sent reported, the geographical range of this 
particular Partridge, seems to extend so as 
to include the Mexican tablelands from the 
capital city of that country north to the 
western part of Texas, thence westward 
through New Mexico and Arizona, being 
most frequently met with in the southern 
parts of these districts. In the summer 
time it resorts to the mountains,often being 
found at a height of 8000 to gooo feet, but 
as winter approaches it again seeks the 
lower lands, and the foot-hills at their 
bases. 
When Bendire published his account of 
this bird in the first part of his Lzfe Hzst-~ 
ores of North American Birds, he remarked 
of the present species that ‘‘nothing absol- 
utely reliable was known about the nest 
and eggs of this bird up to the season of 
1890. Not a single positively identified 
egg was to be found in any of the larger 
and well-known Oological collections of the 
country and up to the time of this writing, 
no description of them has been published. 
This is rather remarkable when the exten- 
sive range which this species occupies with- 
in our borders is considered, and also the 
fact that in many localities it is by no 
means rare. Nevertheless the Massena 
Partridge, next to the Lesser Prairie Hen, 
Tympanuchus pallidicinctus, is still one of 
the best-known game birds of the United 
States. When I published my Comparative 
Oology of NorthAmerican Birds this tact was 
set forth in the Table on page 473. This 
was in 1894,when Coues had given no des- 
cription ot the egg of Cyrtonyx at all; Ridg- 
way’s Manual had it that the identification 
was very doubtful (1887); and Bendire had 
given a description of both nest and eggs. 
As Bendire’s work is by 10 means acces- 
sible to every one, and as it is highly desir- 
able that more should be known of the nest: 
ing habits of this species, I take this occa- 
sion to publish here a very correct figure 
of the male of the Massena Partridge, and 
reprint what Bendire has said of the nest 
and eggs of the bird, with the hope that in 
the future those that have the oportunity 
will make especial effort to add to our 
knowledge of this interesting subject. 
Bendire’s description is of a clutch of eggs 
of the Massena Partridge in the collection 
of Mr. Thomas H. Jackson, of West Chest- 
er, Pennsylvania, and ‘‘they were taken 
by Mr. G. W. Todd, near the head of 
Turkey Creek, in Kinney county, Texas; 
June 22, 1890, and are, as far as Iam 
aware, the first fully identified eggs of this 
species that have been found.”’ The targ- 
est egg of this set measures 33 by 24.5 
millimetres and is w/zfe. Mr. Todd thus 
describes his find: ‘‘The only nest of this 
species I have ever seen was situated under 
the edge of a big bunch of a coarse 
species of grass, known as ‘hickory grass.’ 
This grass grows out from the center and 
hangs over on all sides until the blades 
touch the ground. It is a round, hard- 
stemmed grass, and only grows on the most 
sterile soil. According to my observations 
the Massena Partridge is seldom seen in 
other localities than where this grass grows. 
I was riding at a walk up the slope of a 
barren hill when my horse almost stepped 
on a nest, touching just the rim of it. The 
bird gave a startled flutter, alighting again 
within 3 feet of the nest and not over 6 
feet from me; thence she walked away with 
her crest slightly erected, uttering a low 
chuckling whistle until lost to view be- 
hind a Spanish bayonet plant (yucca)about 
30 feet off. I was riding a rather unruly 
horse, and had to return about 30 yards to 
tie him to a yucca, before I could examine 
the nest. This was placed in a slight de- 
pression, possibly dug out by some ani- 
mal, the top of the nest being on a level 
with the earth around it. It was well-lined 
with fine stalks of wire-grass almost ex- 
clusively, the cavity being about 5 inches 
in diameter and 2 inches deep. At the 
back, next to the grass, it was slightly 
arched over, and the overhanging blades 
of grass hid it entirely from sight. The 
nest was more carefully made than the 
average Bob-white’s nest and very nicely 
concealed. 
