116 GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, QUAILS, ETC. 
about the farm. But dog and hunter are now abroad, and the quiet, 
happy days of the quail are over. Vernon Bailey. 
289b. C. V. t exanus ( Lawr .). Texan Bob-white. 
Adult male. — Similar to C. virginianus, but upper parts mainly brown 
rather than reddish brown, with distinct 
whitish barrings and with less striking black 
blotches on scapulars, tertials, and lower 
back ; under parts more heavily and thickly 
barred with brown, and usually with broader 
and more distinct band of pinkish brown 
below black collar. Adult female: like male, but without striking black 
or white markings; upper parts mixed black, white, and brown, from 
buffy brown to rufous ; throat patch and superciliary tawny ; flanks less 
deeply rufous ; median under parts less heavily barred than in male, but 
more heavily barred than in the female virginianus . Young: browner 
than in virginianus. Wing: 4.39, tail 2.44, bill .59. 
Distribution. — Resident in Upper and Lower Sonoran zones, from west¬ 
ern Kansas south through Texas to eastern Nuevo Leon and Central 
Tamaulipas, Mexico. 
Nest, eggs, and food like those of the bob-white. 
The Texan bob-white is equally at home in the thorny thickets of 
southern Texas and in the brushy creek bottoms of western Kansas. 
At San Antonio, Texas, Mr. Attwater says the quail often come close 
to his ranch and lay eggs in hens’ nests, perhaps on account of the 
protection afforded against snakes. 
Except for the paler coloration so common in the more open and 
arid regions, the Texan is a true bob-white, and for habits and voice 
might have been bred in Ohio. 
291. Colinus ridgwayi Brewst. Masked Bob-white. 
Adult male. — Face and throat black, under parts reddish brown ; upper 
parts finely mottled with cinnamon brown, black, 
and buff ; back of neck finely streaked with white. 
Adult female : like the female of C. v. texanus , but 
usually with a more marked chest band and 
heavier barring on belly. Wing: 4.49, tail 2.81, 
bill .60. 
Distribution. — Southwestern Arizona and northwestern Sonora. 
Nest. — By one record, a shallow excavation beside a tuft of grass. 
Eggs : 6, white, unspotted. 
Food. — Red ants, grasshoppers, beetles, seeds, leaves, and berries. 
The masked bob-white, first discovered in southern Arizona by 
Mr. Herbert Brown, finds congenial cover in the high grass of the 
mesas and valleys, disappearing when stock destroy the grass. Mr. 
Brown describes the male as strikingly handsome when the sun red¬ 
dens the deep chestnut of his breast. His two characteristic notes 
are the family bob-white, given in bold full tones from the top of 
a rock or bush, and a ‘ hoo-we * used when the birds are scattered, 
especially toward nightfall. 
Fig. 193. 
Fig. 192. 
