Scaled Quail 141 
Genus CALLIPEPLA. 
Crown with a full, soft and depressed crest ; tail of fourteen feathers ; 
about # the length of the wing; plumage of the under-parts scaly in 
appearance. 
Only one species of this genus is recognized, confined to south-west 
United States and Mexico. 
Scaled Quail. Callipepla squamata. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 293—Colorado Records—Lowe 95, p. 298; 
Anthony 95, p. 388; Cooke 97, pp. 69, 202; Bailey 03, p. 112; Judd 
05, p. 61; Warren 06, p.19; 10, p. 30; Dille 09, p. 87. 
Description. Adult—Above slaty-blue, washed with tawny on the 
wings and middle-back ; feathers of the upper-back and breast edged 
with black, producing a scaly appearance; crown with a full, soft 
crest, tipped with white; inner tertiaries edged with white; below 
the throat is pale yellowish-white, the sides are slaty, streaked with 
white and the abdomen is mottled with brown and white ; iris hazel, 
bill black, legs brownish. Length 10; wing 4-5; tail 3-25; culmen °5 ; 
tarsus 1-2. 
A young bird has the upper-parts marked with black bars and white 
mesial streaks, while the breast is brownish with white triangular 
streaks, 
Distribution.—A resident from southern Colorado, south through 
western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to the valley of Mexico. 
The Scaled Quail was first found in Colorado by Lowe, who on June 
10th, 1895, killed one in the eastern foothills of the Wet Mountains. 
Apparently they have always been abundant in the cedar country to 
the south of the Arkansas River, in Las Arimas and western Baca co., 
but during the last ten years they have been spreading north and east. 
In 1899-1900 they were very common near Rocky Ford (Cooke), and 
last summer (1908) there were quite a number round about Colorado 
Springs, while on June 2nd and 8th of that year a pair were killed 
near the summit of Pikes Peak—a most remarkable instance of 
their wandering propensities. They are also spreading eastward 
into south-western Kansas, and are well known at Monon and 
Springfield (Warren). 
Habits.—This bird, also known as the Cotton-top and 
Blue Quail, and sometimes rather erroneously as the 
Scaled Partridge, is chiefly found in open and arid country 
where the yucca, cactus and sage-brush flourish. It is 
