THE MASSENA PARTRIDGE. 35 



14. Cyrtonyx montezumae (Vigors). 



MASSENA PARTRIDGE. 



Orfyx montezumce, Vigors, Zoological Journal, v, 1830, 275. 

 Cyrtonyx montezumce Stejneger, Auk, 11, January, 1885, 46. 



(B 477, C 394, R 485, C 578, U 296.) 



Geographical range : Western and central Mexico, from Mazatlan and valley 

 of Mexico, north to western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 



This handsome and peculiarly marked Partridge, better known in west- 

 ern Texas as the "Black" or "Black-bellied" Quail, and in Arizona as the 

 "Fool" Quail, inhabits the rough mountainous regions of the last-mentioned 

 Territory north to at least the vicinity of Fort Whipple, which, as far as 

 known at present, marks the western limit of its range, and where it was 

 first obtained by the well-known ornithologist, Dr. Elliott Coues. Thence it 

 extends eastward through New Mexico, north to about latitude 36°, where 

 Capt. William L. Carpenter, Ninth Infantry, U. S. Army, observed it in the 

 upper Rio Grande Valley, near Taos. It is also found in suitable localities 

 in the intervening country, in a southeasterly direction, throughout portions 

 of western and southwestern Texas. Mr. Dresser's specimen, obtained in the 

 Bandera Hills, about 40 miles northwest of San Antonio, marks about the 

 most easterly known point of its range. According to Mr. William Lloyd, 

 it ranges south from the Llano Estacado and mountainous regions of west- 

 ern Texas to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Sonora, Chihuahua, and Sinaloa, 

 and the mountains in Jalisco in northwestern Mexico, inhabiting regions from 

 an altitude of 4,000 to 9,000 feet. In the less elevated parts of its range 

 it is a constant resident and breeds, but at the higher altitudes it is only a 

 summer visitor, retiring to the lower foothills on the approach of winter. 



Although sixty years have passed since the Massena Partridge was first 

 described by Vigors, nothing absolutely reliable was known about the nest 

 and eggs of this bird up to the season of 1890. Not a single positively iden- 

 tified 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 extensive 

 range which this species occupies within 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, Tijmpanuchus pallidicinctus, 

 is still one of the least-known game birds of the United States. 



Mr. William Lloyd writes me from Marfa, Texas, that "the favorite 

 resorts of the Massena Partridge are the rocky ravines or arroyas that head 

 well up in the mountains. They quickly, however, adapt themselves to 

 changed conditions of life and are now to be seen around the ranches pick- 

 ing up grain and scratching in the fields, In the vicinity of Fort Davis, 



