67 



CALIFORNIAN PARTRIDGE. 



t- Ortix Californica, Lath. 



PLATE CCXC— Male and Female. 



This beautiful species was discovered in the course of the voyage of La 

 Perouse, and figured in the atlas accompanying the account of that unfortu- 

 nate expedition, but without any other notice respecting its habits or distri- 

 bution, than an intimation of its having been found abundant in the plains 

 and thickets of California, where it formed large flocks. Mr. Townsend 

 has lately sent me a beautiful specimen of the male, which he procured on 

 the 6th of March, 1837, near Santa Barbara in California. I have to regret, 

 however, that he has not furnished me with any account of its habits. Mr. 

 Nuttall, in speaking to me of this bird, informed me that it is very gentle 

 or confident, so as to be in a great measure regardless of the approach of man, 

 that its manners resemble those of our Common or Virginian Partridge, and 

 that the males in spring are seen perched on low bushes, where they utter 

 their love-notes in the same emphatic manner as the species just mentioned. 



Perdix californica, Lath. Ind. Ornith. Supplt., p. 62. 



Californian Partridge, Perdix californica, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 152. 



Male, 9i, wing, 4 T 7 2. Female, 9, wing, 4^- 



Upper California. Abundant. Resident. 



Adult Male. 



Bill very short, stout; its dorsal outline decurved from the base, the ridge 

 narrow, the sides sloping and slightly convex, the edges sharp and over- 

 lapping, the tip rather obtuse but thin-edged; nostrils basal, oblong, opercu- 

 late in the fore part of the wide nasal groove, which is partially covered 

 with feathers; gap-line a little arched; lower mandible with the angle short 

 and rounded, the dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the ridge broad, 

 the sides convex, the edges sharp, the tip obtuse. 



Head of moderate size, ovate; neck short; body full. Feet of moderate 

 length, stout; tibia covered to the joint; tarsus rather short, a little com- 

 pressed, sharp-edged behind, covered all round with angular scales, of which 

 the anterior are very large; toes four, the first small, and placed higher than 

 the rest; the anterior long, rather slender, the fourth considerably longer 



