_Ortyx massena_, LESSON, Cent. Zoöl. 1830, 189.—FINSCH, Abh. Nat.
1870, 357 (Guadelajara). _Cyrtonyx massena_, GOULD, Mon. Odont. 1850,
14; tab. vii.—M’CALL, Pr. A. N. Sc. V, 1851, 221.—CASSIN, Illust. I,
I, 1853, 21, pl. xxi.—REICHENB. Syst. Av. 1850, pl. xxvii.—BAIRD,
Birds N. A. 1858, 647.—IB. Mex. B. II, Birds, 23.—DRESSER, Ibis, 1866,
29 (Bandera Co., Texas; breeds).—COUES, P. A. N. S. 1866, 95 (Fort
Whipple, Arizona).—GRAY, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 74.—COOP. Orn.
Cal. I, 1870, 558. _Ortyx montezumæ_, VIGORS, Zoöl. Jour. V, 1830,
275. _Odontophorus meleagris_, WAGLER, Isis, XXV, 1832, 279. _Tetrao
guttata_, DE LA LLAVE, Registro Trimestre, I, 1832, 145 (CASSIN).
SP. CHAR. _Male._ Head striped with white, black, and lead-color; chin
black. Feathers above streaked centrally with whitish, those on the
outer surface of the wings with two series of rounded black spots.
Central line of breast and belly dark chestnut; the abdomen, thighs, and
crissum black; the sides of breast and body lead-color, with round white
spots. Legs blue. Length, 8.75; wing, 7.00; tail, 2.50.
_Female._ Prevailing color light vinaceous-cinnamon, the upper parts
barred and streaked as in the male. Head without white or black stripes.
Sides with a few narrow, irregular streaks of black.
_Young._ Somewhat similar to the adult female, but lower parts whitish,
the feathers, especially on the breast, with transverse blackish spots
on both webs.
[Illustration: _Cyrtonyx massena._]
_Chick._ Head dingy white, with a broad occipital elliptical patch of
chestnut-brown, and a blackish streak behind the eye. Above rusty-brown,
obscurely spotted with black; a white stripe on each side of the rump.
Beneath almost uniform dull white.
HAB. Chiefly on the Upper Rio Grande from the high plains of the Pecos.
Fort Whipple, Arizona; Northern Mexico, southward, on the west coast, to
Mazatlan.
HABITS. This Quail was first met with by Lieutenant Couch in the cañon
Guyapuco, about twelve leagues south of Monterey. Though rather shy,
they seemed quite at home in the cultivated fields and stubbles of
the ranches. Mr. Clark first noticed the species among a flock of the
_Ortyx texana_. Once, on flushing a covey of the latter, a bird was
seen to remain behind, and showed no inclination to follow the rest.
It attempted to hide in the grass, but did not fly, and, when shot,
proved to be a Massena Quail. He says they occur either in pairs or
in flocks, and when once flushed fly farther than the Virginia Quail,
but do not lie so close. They may be approached within a few feet,
and followed up, particularly when in pairs, running along before one
like so many domestic fowl. They are of quiet as well as of retired
habits, and a subdued though sharp note is the only noise that Mr.
Clark ever heard them make, and that only when frightened. He has known
them to be pursued, and all the barrels of a six-shooter fired one
after another without alarming them; and they were forced to fly at
last only by an attack of stones and clubs. He first met with them
in the neighborhood of San Antonio, and found them thence sparsely
distributed as an inhabitant both of prairies and mountains as far
westward as Sonora. They are wilder than the Scaled Partridge, are
less conspicuous and noisy, and are never seen in flocks, or, like
the latter, living about old camps. Their haunts are generally far
removed from the habitations of man, and the indifference they sometimes
manifest to his presence seems to be due to ignorance of the danger
from the power of that enemy. Though distributed over the same country
as the _C. squamata_, they are never found in such barren regions,
always seeming to prefer the districts most luxuriantly covered with
vegetation.
Dr. C. B. R. Kennerly states that this bird was never seen farther south
in Texas than Turkey Creek. In that vicinity it was very common, and it
also occurred at various points thence to the Rio Grande. In the valley
of this river it was very rarely seen, giving way apparently to the
Scaly and to Gambel’s Partridge. West of the river it was very common,
as far as the party travelled, wherever there was a permanent supply
of fresh water. In the valley of the Santa Cruz River and among the
adjacent hills it was extremely abundant. In the months of June and July
it was observed there always in pairs, while in Texas, in the months of
October and November, it was found in very large flocks, sometimes of
various ages, from the very small and partly fledged to the full-grown
bird. When hunted, they hide very closely in the grass, and Dr. Kennerly
has often known the Mexican soldiers in Sonora kill them with their
lances by striking them either while on the ground or just as they rise.
Some of these men were very expert in the business, and obtained a good
many in the course of a day’s travel.
Dr. Woodhouse met with this species a few miles above the head of the
Rio San Pedro, where he secured a single specimen. He was informed
by Captain S. G. French that when he first passed over exactly
the same route in 1849, he met with a number of them in different
localities,—at the head of San Pedro, Howard Springs, and also at Eagle
Springs,—showing evidently that they have a range over the country lying
between the Rio Grande and the San Pedro Rivers. He also stated that he
had never met with any near the settlements, but always among the wild,
rocky, and almost barren hills of that country. They are more sociable
and not so shy as the other species of this family. Their food appears
to be principally insects.
Mr. Dresser states that this bird is locally known as the Black
Partridge. For some time he sought for it near San Antonio without
success, but ultimately found it, in November, among the Bandera Hills.
In its habits he states it is more like the Texan Quail than any other;
but on the wing it is easily distinguished, it flies so heavily, though
very swiftly. When disturbed, they squat very close, and will not move
until approached very closely, when they generally rise up from under
one’s feet. He did not meet with this Quail in any other part of Texas
than Bandera County, but was told that it is abundant in the hilly
country at the head of the Leona, and that it is also found near Laredo.
In some remarks on the birds of Western Texas, published in the
Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy in 1851, Colonel McCall gives
the first information to the public touching the habits of this
interesting species. We learn from his narrative that it was not met
with by him before crossing the San Pedro River, but that it was soon
after seen in the rocky regions into which he then entered; and thence
as far as the Rio Pecos, a distance of one hundred and forty miles
westwardly, it was frequently seen, though it was not anywhere very
common. This entire region is a desert of great extent, north and south;
the general face of the country is level, and produces nothing but a
sparse growth of sand-plants. Water was found only at long intervals,
and except at such points there was apparently neither food nor cover.
There, among projecting rocks or the borders of dry gullies, or in loose
scrub, this bird was met with by Colonel McCall.
The habits of this species appeared to him to be different from those of
any other kind of Partridge he had ever met with. They were in coveys
of from eight to twelve individuals, and appeared to be simple and
affectionate in disposition. In feeding they separated but little,
keeping up all the while a social _cluck_. They were so gentle as to
evince little or no alarm on the approach of man, hardly moving out of
the way as they passed, and only running off or flying a few yards,
even when half their number had been shot. Colonel McCall was of the
opinion that they might, with very little difficulty, be domesticated,
though naturally inhabiting a barren waste nowhere near the habitation
of man. The call-note is spoken of as very peculiar. The bird was not
seen by his party after crossing the Pecos River. Mr. Gould, without
any information in regard to the habits or economy of this species,
in his Monograph of American Partridges, judging from the comparative
shortness of the toes and the great development of the claws, ventured
the opinion that the habits would be found very different from those of
other members of the family, which opinion is thus confirmed. Mr. Cassin
thought he could trace in the circular spots, numerous in the lower
part of the body, an analogy in character to the Guinea-fowls, which is
further shown by their habit of continually uttering their notes as they
feed, and by other similarity in their manners.
Captain S. G. French, cited by Mr. Cassin, mentions meeting with this
Partridge in the summer of 1846, when crossing the table-lands that
extend westwardly from San Antonio, in Texas, to New Mexico. On the
sides of a high rocky mountain near the summit, he observed several
of them only a few feet in advance of him. They were running along
over the fragments of rocks and through the dwarf bushes which grew
wherever there was sufficient soil. He was attracted by their handsome
plumage and their extreme gentleness. A few days after, when encamped on
the headwaters of the river, he again met with a covey, and from that
point occasionally encountered them on the route to the Pecos River, a
distance of over a hundred miles. He did not meet with them again until
he came to Eagle Springs, in a mountainous region about twenty-five
miles from the Rio Grande. In the spring of 1851, on the same route, he
saw only two of these birds, and was led to the belief that they are
not at all numerous. They appeared to inhabit the rocky sides of the
mountains and hills, in the desolate region of elevated plains west
of the fertile portions of Texas. In no instance did he meet with any
of these birds near the settlements. Wild and rocky hillsides seemed
to be their favorite resort, where trees were almost unknown and all
vegetation was very scant. The coveys showed but little alarm on being
approached, and ran along over the rocks, occasionally attempting to
secrete themselves beneath them. In this case they could be approached
to within a few feet. When startled by the firing of a gun, they fly
but a few yards before again alighting, and exhibit but little of that
wildness peculiar to all the other species of Partridge. The contents
of the crop in Captain French’s specimens consisted exclusively of
fragments of insects, principally grasshoppers. No trace whatever of
food of a vegetable character was found.
Don Pablo de la Llave, quoted by Mr. Cassin, furnishes the following
account of the habits of this Partridge, observed by him in specimens
taken near the city of Mexico.
“It is only a few days since the third species has been brought to
me. It is rather smaller than the former (_C. squamata_), and its
deportment is entirely different. It carries its head habitually resting
on its shoulders, the neck being excessively small and deflexed, and
in everything it shows an amiability, and, so to speak, kindness of
character (_una bondad de caracter_), which is not found in any other
species of this genus, and it is naturally so tame and domestic as
to permit itself to be caught with the hand. These birds are always
united, forming a covey, and whenever one is separated the others follow
it. They do not, like others, wish to sleep on elevated places, but
sit on the ground, drawing very near together. Their notes, which are
not varied, are very low and soft, and I have never heard loud cries
from the male. When they are frightened they show much activity and
swiftness; at other times their gait and movement are habitually slow
and deliberate, carrying the crest puffed up (_espayada_).”