648 
GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 
doubt is determined by the length and severity of the 
winters which prevail in this rigorous climate. They 
seldom migrate, except to short distances, in quest of 
food, and, consequently, often perish beneath deep drifts 
of snow, so that their existence is rendered impossible in 
the arctic winters of our high latitudes. Indeed, some- 
times they have been so thinned in this part of the coun- 
try, that sportsmen, acquainted with their local attach- 
ments, have been known to introduce them into places 
for breeding, and to prevent their threatened extermina- 
tion. So sedentary are the habits of this interesting bird, 
that until the flock is wholly routed by the unfeeling 
hunter, they continue faithfully attached to the neigh- 
bourhood of the spot where they have been raised and 
supported. 
Johnston, Willughby, and Ray distinguished the Mex- 
ican bird by the quaint title of the Quail’s Image . 
The first settlers in New England also thought they saw 
in this familiar bird the Quail of the country they had 
relinquished. The two birds, are, however, too different 
to require any critical comparison. Ours is even justly 
considered by European ornithologists as the type of a 
peculiar American subgenus, to which has been given 
the name of Ortyx by Stevens, the original appellation 
of the Quail or Perdix coturnix , as known to the ancient 
Greeks. The name of Colin, contracted by Buffon from 
the barbarous appellation of some Mexican species, and 
adopted by Cuvier, Temminck, and Vieiliot is, however, 
to be preferred, as free from the implied contradiction of 
the Greek name. 
Although there is some general resemblance between 
the Quail of the old and the new continent in their ex- 
ternal appearance, their habits and instincts are exceed- 
ingly different. The true Quail is a noted bird of pas- 
