[Illustration: =58983=, ♀.]
=Chamæpelia passerina= (III, 389). Dr. Cooper states that an individual
of this species was killed by Mr. Lorquin at San Francisco, in May,
1870. Mr. Lorquin also obtained several at San Gabriel, Los Angeles
County, several years previous.
=Tetrao obscurus= (III, 421). Dr. Cooper found this species in April,
1870, at the edge of the melting snow, near Cisco, about 6,000 feet
altitude. They were still more numerous at Emigrant Gap, 5,300 feet
altitude, where snow lay only in patches, and at Truckee, on the east
slope, where there was no snow, and where he found two of their eggs in
a deserted nest within sight of the town. In July he found them near
Verdi, near the State line. This is the limit of their range. They also
frequent the edge of perpetual snow, at an elevation of 9,000 feet, more
numerously than below.
=Ortyx virginianus=, var. =floridanus= (III, 469, footnote). Specimens
from Miami, Fla., exhibit the peninsular extreme of this species. They
are altogether more like var. _cubanensis_ than like _virginianus_
proper, yet they differ uniformly in such essential respects from the
Cuban form that they merit a distinctive name. The characteristic
features of this form are the following:—
CHAR. Above, with dark bluish-gray prevailing, only the anterior
part of the back being washed, or mixed, with reddish; scapulars and
tertials quite conspicuously bordered with whitish. The whole gray
surface more or less mottled or barred with black. The head-stripes
are nearly uniformly black, with only a little rusty mixed in the
occiput; the black gular collar is much extended, encroaching on the
throat anteriorly, so as to leave only an inch, or less, of white, and
posteriorly invades the jugulum, so that there is more than an inch of
continuous black, and over this distance where black predominates. The
entire abdomen, anal region, and breast are heavily barred with black,
the black bars on the breast almost equalling the white ones in width.
The sides, flanks, and crissum are nearly uniform rufous, the feathers
of the former with white edges, broken by the extensions of the black
streak which runs inside the white, while the latter have heavy black
medial streaks and white terminal spaces.
The female is similar, except in the color of the head, which is exactly
that of var. _texanus_.
Wing, ♂, 4.30–4.40; ♀, 4.35. Culmen, .60–.65; tarsus, 1.15–1.20; middle
toe, 1.05–1.10.
=Oreortyx pictus= (III, 475). Dr. Cooper found these birds already
paired near the summit of the Sierra Nevada, where the snow was but
half melted off, and they scarcely descended below the limits of the
snow in the coldest weather. In July he saw young birds just hatched
near Truckee, at an elevation of 6,000 feet. This was on the 24th. On
the 28th another brood, a little older, was seen at the foot of Mt.
Stanford, about 8,000 feet above the sea. Most of the broods, however,
were nearly fledged at that time. Dr. Cooper also mentions that he
found this Quail not rare in the mountains east of San Diego above an
elevation of 3,800 feet. He thought, also, that he heard this bird in
the Santa Anna range east of Annaheim. It also exists in the Santa
Inez Mountains, sixteen miles east of San Buenaventura, at an altitude
of from 3,000 to 4,000 feet. It seems to be confined to the zone of
coniferous trees, rarely if ever coming below them. Mr. Henshaw has
obtained this species at Apache, in Arizona.
=Lophortyx gambeli= (III, 482). Captain Bendire found this Quail
breeding in the vicinity of Tucson, in Arizona, near Rillito Creek,
occasionally nesting in situations above the ground. One nest, seen June
7, 1872, contained three fresh eggs. It was two feet above the ground,
on a willow stump, and in an exposed place, near the creek. The nest
was composed of the leaves of the cottonwood-tree. In some instances he
found as many as eighteen eggs in one nest. These closely resemble the
eggs of the California Quail, so much so as to be hardly distinguishable
from them. They are all of a rounded oval shape, sharply tapering at
one end, and quite obtuse at the other. They measure 1.24 inches in
length by one inch in their largest breadth. Their ground-color varies
from a deep cream to a light drab. Some are sparingly marked with large
and well-defined spots, most of them circular in shape, and of a rich
purplish-brown color. In others the whole surface is closely sprinkled
with minute spots of yellowish-brown, intermingled with which are larger
spots of a dark purple. This species was obtained in Southern Utah by
Mr. Henshaw.