NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



closely they are modeled after each other. The postpnbis in the 

 quail has a greater tendency to become aborted. 



The skeleton of Colinus may almost be said to be repeated in the 

 California quail partridges (L . californjcus); 1 in the latter 

 form, however, the main differences are again seen in the pelvis 

 [pi. 5, fig. 25], where it once more becomes relatively much 

 shorter and broader, more nearly approaching the pattern of the 

 pelvis, as seen among some of the grouse. The postpnbis on 

 either side has very nearly disappeared, and the hinder free ends of 

 these bones, in this species, are abruptly crooked upward in a very 

 remarkable fashion. 



Xot including the pygostyle, there usually are but four free caudal 

 vertebrae in the tail of any species of the Perdicinae. This is a re- 

 duction compared with what we found in G. b a n k i va. 



My cabinet also affords specimens of skeletons of C a 1 1 i p e p 1 a 

 squamata ; a great many of the eastern quail (C . v i r - 

 ginianus), and C y r t o n y x m . mearnsi, and others. 

 The same general plan of osseous structure obtains throughout all 

 of these. The lacrymal bones are markedly small in Cyrtonyx [pi. 

 I, fig. 8], while the pit at the craniofacial region is well marked, and 

 still more so in Oreortyx p i c t u s . 



The humerus among the Perdicinae is a highly pneumatic bone, 

 and the pneumatic fossa is large and deep. Another deep fossa is 

 seen on the anconal aspect of that bone among quails, just be- 

 yond the humeral head. It appears occasionally to have pneumatic 

 openings at the bottom of it, and is a very distinctive character of 

 the Perdicinae, being invariably absent in Gallus and the grouse. It 

 is seen well marked in Coturnix. 



Coturnix d a c t y 1 i s o n a n s presents some interesting 

 characters in its skeleton, inasmuch as all the cranial portion of its 

 skull much resembles that part in our Perdicinae, whereas its 

 superior osseous mandible is much more after the order of Gallus 

 and Tetraoninae. A large ramal vacuity is to be seen in either 

 ramus of the mandible. I have never found this among our quail 

 partridges. Its pelvis, having the general form of that bone in 

 Colinus, is at once distinguished from it by the very open double 

 row of interdiapophysial foramina, one on either side of the body of 

 the sacrum. They are closed in Colinus. 



1 J am indebted to the late Mr C. S. Allen of Nicasio, California for specimens of 

 this bird (male and female). 



