BOB-WHITES AND QUAILS: TEXAS BOB-WHITE 213 
TEXAS BOB-WHITE: Colmus virgini&nus texanus (Lawrence) 
Description. Wing: 4.2-4.6 inches, tail 2.2-2.7, bill .5-.6 depth of bill at base 
.3-.4, tarsus 1.1-1.3, middle toe .9-1.1. Adult male: Eye streak and throat white , 
with black collar; short crest and upperparts brown with whitish barrings and blackish 
blotches; chest with broad pinkish band; rest of underparts 
thickly barred with brown; iris brown, bill dark brown or 
black, feet grayish. Adult female: Like male but with¬ 
out striking black and white markings. Young: Back 
brown, streaked withwhiteandspotted with black; breast 
brownish, streaked with white; belly white. Young 
male with buffy throat and eye streak like female. 
Range. Resident in Upper and Lower Sonoran Zones in the extreme eastern 
part of New Mexico and (formerly) through Texas to eastern Nuevo Leon and 
central Tainaulipas. 
State Records. On August 6, 1820, during Long’s Expedition from Pitts¬ 
burgh to the Rocky Mountains, the Bob-white was seen, apparently near where 
the Mora River enters the Canadian (in James, 1823, vol. 2, p. 97). In the fall 
of 1845, Lieut, later Gen. J. W. Abert traveled from Bent’s Fort on the Arkansas 
in Colorado, to Raton, and thence down the Canadian River to Texas. On Sep¬ 
tember 1, when about 35 miles west of the Texas line he found several quail that 
were calling bob-white and he says these were the first he had seen since he left 
Bent’s Fort. He found them continuously thence eastward, and the limit of their 
range westward seemed to coincide with the limit of the plum thickets which con¬ 
stituted a most excellent shelter. Bob-whites have not been reported from this 
part of New Mexico since Abert’s time, but as they have been common only a 
little farther east at Tascosa, Texas, some may still remain on the New Mexico 
side of the line. 
In August, 1903, both old and young were seen at Texline (Howell) on the New 
Mexico-Texas boundary; and they are common in Baca County, Colorado, close 
to the New Mexico line (Warren); [and a few still remain in the northeastern corner 
of New Mexico. In former years they were most numerous in the Canadian River 
Valley, near Logan, and in the extreme southeastern corner of the State in the 
sandhill country up to about 4,000 feet (Ligon, 1927).) 
They were most common in the sandy country 15-20 miles east of the Pecos, 
and after working westward in the years just previous, in 1907 reached the Pecos, 
several covies being known at Lakewood a few miles west of the river. A heavy 
and long continued snowstorm in the winter of 1906-7, however, apparently 
destroyed these birds. But on the Carlsbad Bird Reserve in January, 1915, they 
were reported occasionally by hunters (Willett). [In January, 1919, at Round and 
Red Lakes, 20 to 24 miles east of Carlsbad, and at the foot of the plains 50 miles 
northeast of Carlsbad where, two or three years previous, they were reported rather 
common, none were found, their absence probably being explained by dry weather, 
overstocked range, and lack of protection. In August, 1919, no trace of them was 
found in the State. Several years later—on a trip from May 27 to June 22, 1924— 
none were seen and no definite information was obtained regarding them. Some 
were said to be in the short canyons that cut into the plains southeast of Tucumcari, 
but the report could not be verified. Sportsmen at Nara Visa said that there were 
none in the Canadian River Valley on the New Mexico side of the line, but that 
there were some in the Texas Panhandle. No information could be obtained relative 
to them in Eddy or Union Counties, where it was hoped they might occur; but in 
Fig. 36. Texas Bob- 
white 
