PERDICIN^. ORTYX. 
199 
full. Feet of moderate length ; tarsus shorter than the 
middle toe, with two anterior series of large scales ; first 
toe small and elevated ; third very long, second shorter than 
third, scutellate, connected at the base by webs of a consi- 
derable extent. Claws rather stout; arched, compressed, 
rather acute. Plumage dense, rather compact ; wings short, 
concave, rounded. Tail short, rounded, of twelve feathers, 
A bare space behind the eyes. Tongue triangular, fleshy ; 
oesophagus with an ovate oblique crop on the fore part of 
the neck ; stomach a very large and strong gizzard, broader 
than long, placed obliquely, with concave grinding surfaces; 
intestine long and wide ; coeca large. 
291. 1. Ortyx Virginiana, Linn. Common American Par- 
tridge. 
Plate LXXVI. Male, Female, and Young. 
Male with a short broad crest; the forehead, a broad band over the 
eye, and the throat, white; loral space, a band below the eye, and a 
broad semilunar band on the fore neck, black ; upper part of the head, 
hind and lower part of the neck all round, brownish-red ; upper parts 
variegated with chestnut-red, black, grey, and yellowish ; lower yel- 
lowish-white, undulatingly barred with black, the sides streaked with 
red. Female similar, but without a black band on the fore neck, its 
place being merely spotted, and with the throat and a band over the 
eye brownish-yellow. Young with the feathers having a central yel- 
lowish line, the lower parts dull yellowish-brown, without black bands. 
Male, 10, 15. Female, 9|, 14. 
Breeds abundantly from Texas to Massachusetts; in the interior, 
high on the Missouri, and in all intermediate districts. 
Quail or Partridge, Perdix virginiana, WiLS. Amer. Orn. v. vi. p. 21. 
Perdix virginiana. Bo nap. Syn. p. 124. 
American Partridge or Quail, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 647. 
Virginian Partridge, Perdix virginiana, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p. 388 ; v. v. p. 564. 
292. 2. Ortyx Californica, Lath. Californian Partridge. 
Plate CCCCXIII. Fig. 10. Male and Female. 
On the top of the head an elegant crest of six elongated, recurved, 
clavate feathers, of which the webs are deflected. Male with the fore- 
head dull yellow, the crest black ; upper part of head dark brown, 
margined with a band of white ; throat deep black, margined with a 
semilunar band of white, curving up to the eyes ; hind part and sides of 
