ORTYX DOUGLASII. 



rather, we should believe, capable of motion at the will of the bird, and 

 placed in a line behind each other. Cheeks and sides of the neck, with 

 the centre parts of the feathers, black, margined with reddish-white ; the 

 throat white, spotted with black ; the back and rump grey, tinged with 

 brown, having the feathers finely striated with a darker shade, and mar- 

 gined with yellowish-white : wing-coverts and scapulars brownish-black, 

 deeply margined with pale ochre-yellow : quills hair-brown : tail grey, con- 

 taining twelve feathers, mottled with pale ochraceous and bluish-grey : un- 

 der parts grey, tinged with brown, with large, oval, yellowish-white spots ; 

 the under tail-coverts reddish, with the centre of the feathers blackish- 

 brown. The female has the crest hardly perceptible, and the colours are 

 darker and more obscure. 



Mr Douglas mentions tins species as never seen in a higher latitude 

 than 42° North, and even then very sparingly in comparison with Ortyx 

 picta or Californica, with which species they do not associate. In ha- 

 bits similar to those last mentioned, as far as he had an opportunity of obser- 

 ving, haunting the dry upland or undulating gravelly or sandy soils in open 

 woods or coppice thickets of the interior ; but during the severity of win- 

 ter, when the ground is covered with snow, migrating to more temperate 

 places in the immediate vicinity of the ocean. Their common food is the 

 seeds of different grasses, catkins of Corylus, leaves of F? , agci7-icB, and va- 

 rious insects. The flesh is dark coloured, but pleasant. 



Since we wrote our Synopsis Specierum of this genus, many species have 

 been discovered ; and the following are those whose characters we have 

 been able to obtain *. Figures of the more interesting will be given in our 

 subsequent Numbers. 



mined. We have, however, the authority of Mr Douglas, who studied them in their native re- 

 gions, for calling it erect ; and we are shewn how very cautious a describer from dried specimens 

 only should be of decidedly asserting any thing doubtful. 



* We learn that Mr Vigors has lately received another species from Mexico, which he pro- 

 poses to call squamatus. 



