8 LIFE HISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



3. Colinus virginianus texanus (Lawrence). 



TEXAN BOB WHITE. 



Ortyx texanus Lawrence, Annals Lyceum Natural History, N. Y., vi, April, 1853, 1. 

 Colinus virginianus texanus Stejneger, Amk, 11, January, 1885, 45. 



(B 472, C 3896, R 480&, C 573, U 2896.) 



Geographical range: Southern and western Texas, and northeastern Mexico 

 north to western Kansas. 



The Texan Bob White is a resident of the greater part of Texas, excepting 

 the so-called Staked Plains in the northwestern part of the State. In eastern 

 Texas it intergrades with Colinus virginianus. It is most abundant in the cen- 

 tral parts of the State. Its range northward extends well into the Indian Ter- 

 ritory and it has also been taken in western Kansas, where it is rare, however. 

 In its general habits it does not differ materially from Colinus virginianus. 



Capt. P. M. Thorne, Twenty -second Infantry, U. S. Army, writes me: 

 "During a month I spent on the road between Forts Duncan and Mcintosh, 

 Texas, I found this species common, and so unsophisticated that a covey would 

 not even squat when my dog pointed them; they would move on slowly, chat- 

 tering to each other, evidently talking the matter over. At Fort Duncan it 

 seemed odd that I could always find them mornings and evenings close to the 

 bank of the Rio Grande on the American side, and as soon as flushed they flew 

 straight over into Mexico. The river here is over half a mile wide. At Fort 

 Clark, Texas, I have taken them nearly full grown on July 29, and found them 

 barely able to fly as late as September 20." 



Mr. George B. Sennett records them as common at Lomita, in the lower 

 Rio Grande Valley, coming into the inclosures of the ranch at all times and 

 feeding about the corncribs with Blackbirds and Pigeons. 



Mr. William Lloyd, of Marfa, Texas, informs me, "The Texan Bob White 

 is a bird of the lowlands, and is not found above an altitude of 2,000 feet. 

 Their food consists of small berries, acorns, grain, buds and leaves of aromatic 

 herbs and small shrubs, varied with occasional beetles, grasshoppers, and ants, 

 especially the winged females, of which they seem to be very fond. They are 

 very insuspicious, and their low notes, uttered while feeding, attract a good 

 many enemies. I have seen foxes on the watch, and the Marsh Harrier perched 

 in a clump of grass on the lookout, waiting for them to pass. But the many 

 large rattlesnakes found here are their worst enemies. One killed in May had 

 swallowed five of these birds at one meal; another, a female evidently caught 

 on her nest and a half dozen of her eggs; a third, four Bob Whites and a 

 Scaled Partridge. The young are also greatly affected and many killed by 

 heavy rains in June and July; numbers perish then from cold and protracted 

 wet weather. When alarmed by a Hawk sailing overhead they run under the 

 mother for protection, as domestic chickens do." 



Mr. J. A. Singley, of Giddings, Texas, writes me: "During the very hot 

 weather of the summer this species is always to be found under the large 



