_Cupidonia cupido_, var. _pallidicinctus_, RIDGWAY.
SP. CHAR. Similar to var. _cupido_, but above nearly equally barred with
pale grayish-ochraceous and dusky or blackish-brown. Beneath white,
with faint, but sharply defined, narrow bars of pale grayish-brown.
Top of head with light bars prevailing; head-stripes reddish-brown.
_Male_ (10,007, Prairies of Texas, Staked Plains?; Capt. J. Pope,
U. S. A.). Wing, 8.30; tail, 4.20; tarsus, 1.70; middle toe, 1.50.
_Female_ (10,005, same locality, etc.). Wing, 8.20.
HAB. Southwestern Prairies (Staked Plains, Texas?).
In its relations with the _C. cupido_, this race bears a direct analogy
to _Pediœcetes columbianus_, as compared with _P. phasianellus_, and
to _Ortyx texanus_, as distinguished from _O. virginianus_. Thus in a
much less development of the tarsal feathers it agrees with the southern
_Pediœcetes_, while in paler, grayer colors, and smaller size, it is
like the southwestern _Ortyx_.