FAMILY XVI. 
GALLINACE1 , Illiger. 
GEXUS XXXVII. — PERDIX, Brisson. 
SUBGENUS ORTYX , STEPHENS. 
190 . PERDIX PIRGINIANA , LATHAM AND WILSON. 
QUAIL, OR PARTRIDGE. 
WILSON*, PLATE XLVII. FIG. II. MALE. — EDINBURGH COLLEGE MUSEUM. 
This well known bird is a general inhabitant of 
North America, from the northern parts of Canada and 
Nova Scotia, in which latter place it is said to be 
migratory, to the extremity of the peninsula of Florida ; 
and was seen in the neighbourhood of the Great Osage 
village, in the interior of Louisiana. They are numerous 
in Kentucky and Ohio ; Mr Pennant remarks, that 
they have been lately introduced into the island of 
Jamaica, where they appear to thrive greatly, breeding 
in that warm climate twice in the year. Captain 
Henderson mentions them as being plenty near the 
Balize, at the Bay of Honduras. They rarely frequent 
the forest, and are most numerous in the vicinity of 
well cultivated plantations, where grain is in plenty. 
They, however, occasionally seek shelter in the woods, 
perching on the branches, or secreting themselves among 
the brushwood; but are found most usually in open fields, 
or along fences sheltered by thickets of briers. Where 
they are not too much persecuted by the sportsmen, they 
become almost half domesticated ; approach the barn, 
particularly in winter, and sometimes, in that severe 
season, mix with the poultry to glean up a subsistence. 
They remain with us the whole year, and often suffer 
extremely by long, hard winters, and deep snows. At 
such times, the arts of man combine with the inclemency 
of the season for their destruction. To the ravages of 
