(Cyrtonyx Montezuma)
The Massena, or Montezuma quail, is a distinct genus from the blue
quail family. In many respects it resembles the bobwhite in color,
though far more fancifully marked. It is also nearly one-half larger,
though in some parts of Arizona and in New Mexico there is a smaller
species of the same genus known as fool quail. The Mexican bird is far
from a fool, and although it roosts on the ground like the bobwhite,
it is resourceful enough to take care of itself in a country where
vermin of all kinds are very plentiful. Its range is from near the
northern boundary south through the larger portion of Mexico.
The Montezuma quail is emphatically a grass bird and inhabits the
grassy foothills and the cultivated fields, where it affords fine
sport with a dog. It is very cosmopolitan as to climate, for it is
found at altitudes of from five to six thousand feet, where
considerable snow falls, as well as in the foothills of the hot,
tropical valleys of the lowlands, and thrives equally well in all
sections. It is a bird of peculiar habits. When startled by the
approach of an enemy the bevy at once huddles together, where the
birds remain motionless until they are approached to within from one
to four feet, according to the cover they are in. If they think that
they have not been seen or that the object of their alarm is going to
pass by, there is not the slightest motion made by any one of them,
but when they decide to take wing for safety every bird in perfect
unison springs into the air to a height of about six feet and darts
rapidly away. They are quick on the wing and seem able to carry away a
good deal of shot. The flight generally is not more than one hundred
yards, and when they alight they scatter well and will then out-hide
any bird that lives. I have both ridden and walked, without a dog, for
hours through a country where they were plentiful without seeing a
bird, except where I chanced to nearly step upon them, yet with a dog
I have found on the same grounds probably an average of fifteen bevies
to the square mile. For work with a dog I prefer them to any bird I
have ever hunted. They give out a strong scent, for points on bevies
of from six to fifteen birds, made thirty to forty yards away are no
uncommon occurrence. Then when you walk in front of your dog they
never flush until you have almost stepped upon them. A scattered bevy
will lie securely hid until each individual is flushed. Unlike the
blue quail they never gather in large flocks, but always remain in
single broods until broken up in the spring for nesting purposes.
=Color=--Male--The head of these birds have a very bizarre appearance
whose strange black and white markings seem to have no more purpose or
design than the black and white chalk marks on a clown's face. The
head of the male is crested with semi-erectile feathers in the shape
of a broad hood of dark yellowish brown color, falling about half way
down the neck; groundwork of the back and of the wing and tail coverts
is a dark ocher barred with a deep rich brown; breast and flanks are
nearly black, dotted with large white spots, and from the throat to
the vent is a stripe about five-eighths of an inch wide of a dark rich
chestnut.
=Female=--The female, with the exception of the white dots on the
breast and flanks is much the color of the female bobwhite.
=Nest and Eggs=--The nest is like that of the quail generally, simply
a depression in the ground, carefully hidden away in some thick matted
grass or bunch of brush, and generally higher up the hill-sides than
they are found at other times. Eggs, white, and of a china appearance,
and from ten to fifteen in number.
=Measurements=--While these birds are fully one-half larger than the
blue quail, the very short tail makes their total length not over 8 to
9 inches; wing, 5 inches, and bill, 5/8.
[Illustration: BOBWHITE (Colinus virginianus)]