Oreortyx, Baird, Birds of N. Am. 1858. (Type, Ortyx picta, Douglas.)
Gen. Char. Body stout, broad; bill large; a crest of two or three much elongated linear feathers, springing from the middle of the vertex; tail short, broad, scarcely more than half the wing, rounded, the longest feathers not much exceeding the coverts. Legs developed, the claws extending beyond the tip of the tail; the lateral toes short, the outer claw falling considerably short of the base of the middle. Very similar to Ortyx, except in the crest. Sexes similar.
Oreortyx pictus, Baird.
PLUMED PARTRIDGE; MOUNTAIN QUAIL.
Ortyx picta, Douglas, Trans. Linn. Soc. XVI, 1829, 143. Callipepla picta, Gould, Mon. Odont. pl. xv.—Newberry, Rep. P. R. R. VI, IV, 1857, 93.—Heerm. X, s. 61. Ortyx plumifera, Gould, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. V, 1837, 42.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 200.—Ib. Birds Amer. V. 1842, 69, pl. ccxci. Perdix plumifera, Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 220, pl. ccccxxii. Lophortyx plumifera, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 791. Oreortyx pictus, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 642.—Cooper & Suckley, 225.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 546.
Sp. Char. Head with a crest of two straight feathers, much longer than the bill and head. Anterior half of the body grayish-plumbeous; the upper parts generally olivaceous-brown with a slight shade of rufous, this extending narrowly along the nape to the crest. Head beneath the eyes and throat orange-chestnut, bordered along the orbits and a short distance behind by black, bounded anteriorly and superiorly by white, of which color is a short line behind the eye. Posterior half of the body beneath white; a large central patch anteriorly (bifurcating behind), with the flanks and tibial feathers, orange chestnut-brown; the sides of body showing black and white bands, the former color tinged with chestnut. Under tail-coverts black, streaked with orange-chestnut. Upper tertials margined internally with whitish. Female differing only in slightly shorter crest. Length, 10.50; wing, 5.00; tail, 3.25. Juv. Body, generally, pale brown, the feathers of the upper parts minutely barred with darker, and with medial shaft-streaks of blackish; lower plumage plain brown. Breast clear ashy, presenting a well-defined area. Head pale brown, similar to, but lighter than, the body, with a conspicuous vertical and lateral (auricular) broad stripe of dark umber-brown. Feathers of the flanks blackish, broadly bordered with dingy whitish. A short truncated tuft of hair-like feathers on the crown. (Described from figures in Grayson’s plate.)
Hab. Mountain-ranges of California and Oregon towards the coast. Nevada (eastern slope and foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada; Ridgway).
3935 ♂
Oreortyx pictus.
There are two quite different races of this species, but which, however, pass gradually into each other, and must be considered as merely the extremes of one species. They may be defined as follows:—