46 BOBWHITE AND OTHER QUAILS OF UNITED STATES. 



do their parents. At Marshall Hall, July 24, 19 droppings collected 

 from two broods of downy chicks — one but a few hours out of the 

 shell and the other probably several days old — consisted wholly of 

 the remains of insects. Their fragmentary condition made the spe- 

 cies almost unrecognizable, but the following were identified : 



Minute green leaf-eating beetles ^Yeevils {Rlmnchophora). 



(GUrysomclidw), at least two spe- Grasshopper (AcrUUdw) . 



fies. Caterpillars (Lepidoi)tera). 



Leaf-eating beetle {Colaspis hninnea). Ants (FormicifM') . 



Small scarabseid beetles (Scaraiwiclw) , Stink bug (Euschistusf). 



two species. Spiders (Arachnida). 



Longicorn beetle (Ceramhycklcc), one Thousand legs (i/mZms sp.). 

 species. 



Ground beetles {CaraMdce) , five spe- 

 cies. 



MASKED BOBWHITE. 



(Volinits ridgwuijl.) 



The masked bobwhite is slightly smaller than the bobwhite of the 

 Eastern States, and the male differs strikingly, having the chin, 

 throat, and sides of the head black, and the underside of the body 

 usually uniform rusty reddish. Since the discovery of the bird little 

 has been added to our knowledge of its life history beyond some notes 

 on its distribution, and the fact of its probable extinction Avithin our 

 borders. It lived on grassy plains covering a limited area in southern 

 Arizona, south and southwest of Tucson, and ranged into northern 

 Sonora, Mexico. In regard to the causes leading to the disappearance 

 of the masked bobwhite, Herbert Brown writes as follows : 



The causes leading to the extermination of the Arizona masked bobwhite 

 (Colinus ridoirayi) are due to the overstocking of the countrj- with cattle, 

 supplemented by several rainless years. This combination practically stripped 

 the country bai'e of vegetation. Of their range the CoHnus occupied only 

 certain restricted portions, and when their food and shelter had been trodden 

 out of existence by thousands of hunger-dying stock, there was nothing left for 

 poor little bobwhite to do but go out with them. As the conditions in Sonora 

 were similar to those in Arizona, birds and cattle suffered in common. The 

 Arizona bobwhite would have thriven well in an agricultural country, in brushy 

 fence corners, tangled thickets, and weed-covered fields, but such things were 

 not to be had in their habitat. Unless a few can still be found on the Upper 

 Santa Cruz we can, in truth, bid them a final good-by.o 



Recent information received by the Biological Survey from Sonora 

 is to the effect that these interesting birds still survive in parts of that 

 region, and efforts are being made by a game association to obtain 

 living birds from there to introduce into California. The natural 

 liome of the masked bobwhite, in the hot and arid desert of southern 



« Auk., XXI, p, 313, April, 1904, 



