18 
INTR O D U C T I O N. 
fine dentations; nostrils basal, rather large, and covered with an operculum; orbits plumed; wings rather 
lengthened and concave; primaries very rigid, the fourth, fifth and sixth the longest; tail rather long, and 
composed of twelve rigid feathers; tarsi spurless, and as well as toes rather slender, the latter united at the 
base by a membrane; the inner toe the shortest. 
Of this section six species are now known, and they are by far the most elegant members of the whole 
family; all of them exhibit a pleasingly contrasted style of plumage, and are ornamented with a graceful 
crest differing in character in every species: forming in C. picta an attenuated plume which reaches to 
the back; rising upwards and falling forwards over the bill in C Californica, and concave and tufted in C. 
squamata : in the first-mentioned species, the ornament would seem to be carried to its maximum. All the 
species yet discovered inhabit Mexico; the range of one or two of them extends to the western parts of 
North America, and of most of them to California. They are characterized by a uniformity of tint on the 
upper surface which is generally olive. In size they are larger than the members of the genus Eupsychortyx ; 
still the largest species is smaller than the Common Partridge of Europe. 
The sexes differ considerably in colour, the females being unadorned with any bright markings, and 
having a less developed crest. 
The following valuable notes respecting the members of this genus have been kindly transmitted to me 
by Dr. Gambel of Philadelphia :— 
“Each species appears to inhabit quite a different region, however numerous they may be in their 
respective localities. Along the whole coast of Upper California, most of which I have traversed, I never met 
with any other than C. Calformca , of which species I there met immense flocks;—I think I have seen as 
many as a thousand or more rise at once into the trees upon a sudden alarm. They form their nests on the 
ground under a bush or tree, and sometimes lay a great number of eggs.” 
The species are :— 
16. Callipepla picta ......... PI. XV. 
“The C. picta,” says Dr. Gambel, “inhabits the mountains of the northern portions of Upper California 
bordering on Oregon.” 
17. Callipepla Californica.PI. XVI. 
Callipepla Californica, Garnb. in Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., vol. i. p. 218. 
“ This beautiful bird,” says Dr. Gambel, “ is extremely abundant throughout California; in the winter 
season congregating in large flocks, sometimes of as many as a thousand or more, in those places where there 
