40 LIFE HISTORIES OP NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



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 

 behind 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 depression, pos- 

 sibly dug out by some animal, 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 exclu- 

 sively, 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." 



The eggs, ten in number, were fresh when found, pure white in color, 

 rather glossy, and the majority of them are more elongated than those of the 

 Bob White. A few of these eggs resemble those of the latter somewhat in 

 shape, but the greater number are distinctly ovate and much more glossy. 

 Some are slightly granulated, and corrugations converge from near the mid- 

 dle to the small end. 



This set of eggs of the Massena Partridge is now in Mr. Thomas H. Jack- 

 son's collection, at West Chester, Pennsylvania, who has kindly allowed me to 

 examine them and figure one. They were taken by Mr. Gr. W. Todd, near the 

 head of Turkey Creek, in Kinney County, Texas, June 22, 1890, and are, as 

 far as I am aware, the first fully identified eggs of this species that have been 

 found. 



Mr. Todd has kindly sent me a couple of skins and stomachs of these 

 birds. The latter, according to the report of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, in 

 charge of the Division of Ornithology, U. S. Department of Agriculture, con- 

 tained principally cactus seeds (Opuntia), a few bits of cactus prickles, a lot 

 of finely ground vegetable matter with a trace of insects, and a large amount 

 of coarse sand, mainly iron ore. 



The average measurement of the eight eggs found by Mr. Poling is 32 by 

 24 millimetres. The largest egg of Mr. Jackson's set measures 33 by 24.5 milli- 

 metres". This, is figured on PI. 1, Fig. 15, the smallest measuring 30 by 23.5 

 millimetres; they average 31.5 by 24 millimetres. 



