164 



GROUSE— QUAILS— PARRAREEt-WOODPECKER— ORIOLE. 



was entirely unknown to this country until the recent discovery of 

 the bird by Dr. Bannister, at St. Michael's, Alaska, on the 9th and 

 ioth of June ; and from that until late in August they were among 

 the most abundant of the land-birds. During the month of June 

 he observed them in flocks of twenty or thirty individuals. It 

 seemed to be rather a shy bird. He described its flight as like that 

 of our common Goldfinch, rising with a few strokes of its wings, 

 then closing them and describing a sort of paraboloidal curve in 

 the air. The only note which he heard and identified as uttered 

 by this species was a kind of faint chirp, hardly to be called a 

 song. These birds seemed to prefer the open country, and were 

 rarely observed in the low brush, the only approach to woods found 

 on the island. 



White-tailed Grouse ; Ptarmigan. {Lagopus leucurus.) 



Fig- 5- 



This species, it is said, has the same habits as other Ptarmigans, 

 and is a resident of the snowy peaks near the mouth of the Co- 

 lumbia, as well as the lofty ridges of the Rocky Mountains. Spe- 

 cimens of this bird have been found by Messrs. Drumond and 

 MacPherson on the Rocky Mountains ; the first obtained his in 

 the 54th parallel, the latter on the same chain nine degrees farther 

 south. 



Rock Grouse, or Ptarmigan. {Lag-opus rupestris.") 



Fig. 6. 



Arctic America is the habitat of this beautiful Grouse. It is nu- 

 merous, says Hutchins, at the two extremes of Hudson's Bay, but 

 does not appear at the middle settlements of York and Severn ex- 

 cept in very severe seasons, when the Willow Grouse are scarce ; 

 and Captain Sabine informed Richardson that they abounded on 

 Melville Island, latitude 75 , in the summer. They arrived there 

 in their snow-white winter dress about the twelfth of May. By 

 the end of the month the females had begun to assume their col- 

 ored plumage, which was completed by the first week in June, 

 when the change in the plumage had only just commenced in the 

 males. Some of the latter were found as late as the middle of 

 June in their unaltered winter plumage. This Grouse was also 

 found on the Melville peninsula and the Barren Grounds, rarely 

 going farther south, even in the winter, than latitude 53 in the in- 

 terior, but, on the coast of Hudson's Bay, descending to latitude 

 58 , and in severe seasons still farther to the southward. In its 

 general manners and mode of living it is said to resemble the al- 

 ius (Willow Ptarmigan), Plate XCVI., fig. 2, page 143, but does 

 not retire so far into the wooded country in the winter. 



Florida Quail. {Ortyx virgzmanus,var. jloridanus?) 



Fig. 7- 



This Quail is a Florida variety of, our common Quail, or Bob 

 White, represented on Plate XXVII, page 28. 



Gambel'8 Partridge, or Quail ; Arizona Quail. {Lophortyx gambcli.) 



Fig. 8. 



This is an abundant and beautiful species, inhabiting the wooded 

 and well-watered regions of the mountains and valleys of New 

 Mexico and Arizona. Dr. Kennedy found it in great numbers 

 during the march of his party up the Rio Grande. Large flocks 

 were continually crossing the road before them, or were seen hud- 

 dled together under a bush. He again met with them in great 

 numbers along the stream named Partridge Creek, and so contin- 

 ued to occasionally meet with them until he reached the Great 

 Colorado. When pursued, it depends more on its feet as a mode 



of escape than on its wings. It runs very rapidly, but seldom was 

 it noticed to hide and remain close in the grass or bushes in the 

 manner of the eastern Quail. 



Scaled or Blue Partridge or Quail. {Callipepla squamata) 



Fig. 9. 



Col. McCall gives the entire valley of the Rio Grande as the 

 habitat of this species. The entire region, embracing in its stretch 

 between the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico every va- 

 riety of climate. This entire region, not excepting even the moun- 

 tain valleys covered in winter with deep snow, is inhabited by it. 

 Wherever found they were able to endure the great extremes of 

 heat and cold. When running they hold their heads high and 

 keep the body erect, and seem to skim over the surface of the 

 ground, their white plume erected and spread out like a fan. 



Don Pablo de la Llave, a Mexican naturalist, says of this spe- 

 cies, that he attempted its domestication in vain. In confinement 

 it was very timid, all its movements were rapid, and, although he 

 fed his specimens for a long time each day, they seemed to become 

 more wild and intractable. He met with the bird in all the mes- 

 quite regions of Northern Mexico. Their note, according to Mr. 

 Clark, is very peculiar, and when first heard suggested to him the 

 cry of some species of squirrel. 



Carolina Parrakeet, or Parrot ; Illinois Parrot. {Conurus carolinensis.) 



Fig. 10. 



This beautiful bird, once so numerous, is now restricted to the 

 Southern Atlantic and Gulf States; at times it extends its migra- 

 tions up the Mississippi valley as far as to the Missouri, the Great 

 Lakes, and Wisconsin. In Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, and the 

 Indian Territory, they are found quite abundant. Mr. Allen says, 

 in reference to their abundance in Florida : 



" Hundreds are captured every winter on the Lower St. Johns, 

 by professional bird-catchers, and sent to northern cities. Thou- 

 sands of others are destroyed wantonly by sportsmen. Concern- 

 ing this needless slaughter, Mr. Boardman thus writes ; ' The little 

 Parrakeet must soon be exterminated. Some of our Enterprise 

 party would sometimes shoot forty or fifty at a few discharges, for 

 sport, as they hover about when any are shot till the whole flock is 

 destroyed.' From its habit of feeding upon the tender maize in 

 autumn, it is somewhat injurious to the farmer, and for this cause, 

 also, many are killed. It is also more or less hunted as a game 

 bird. It is well known that the Parrakeet formerly inhabited large 

 portions of the United States where it is now never seen, and the 

 cause of its disappearance has been deemed a mystery. Such 

 facts as these, however, seem to render clear what its ultimate fate 

 must be in the United States — extermination." 



Gilded Woodpecker ; Cape Flicker. {Colaptes chrysoides.) 



Fig. 11. 



A new species of Woodpecker, met with in the Colorado valley, 

 Lower California, and southward. Dr. Cooper, who obtained 

 specimens of this species at Ft. Mohan, found them feeding on 

 larvae and insects among the poplar-trees, and says they were very 

 shy and wary. It is abundant at Cape St. Lucas, and where found 

 it is usual in valleys, very seldom on mountains. 



Audubon's Oriole. {Icterus melanocephalus, var. auduboni.) 



Fig. 12. 



This pretty little Oriole, which is a late addition to our list of 

 North American species, is met with in the valley of the Lower 



