Lophortyx californicus, Bonap.
CALIFORNIA QUAIL.

Tetrao californicus, Shaw, Nat. Misc. pl. cccxlv (prior to 1801). Perdix californica, Latham, Suppl. Ind. Orn. II, App. 1801, p. lxii.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V. 1839, 152, pl. ccccxiii.—Hutchings, Cal. Mag. II, 1857, 24 (woodcut of bird and its eggs). Ortyx californica, Stephens in Shaw’s Zool. XI, 1819, 384.—Jardine, Game Birds, Nat. Libr. IV, 104, pl. xi.—Cuv. R. An. Illust. ed. Oiseaux, pl. lxiv.—Bennett, Gardens & Menag. Zoöl. Soc. II, 29 (woodcut).—Aud. Syn. 1839, 199.—Ib. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 67, pl. ccxc. Perdix (Ortyx) californica, Bonap. Syn. 1828, 125. Lophortyx californica, Bonap. List, 1838.—Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 789.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 644.—Gray, Cat. Brit. Mus. V, 1867, 78.—Cooper & Suckley, 226 (to Columbia River).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 549. Callipepla californica, Gould, Mon. Odont. pl. xvi.—Reichenbach, Av. Syst. 1850, pl. xxvii.—Newberry, Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857, 92.

Lophortyx californicus.

Sp. Char. Crest black. Anterior half of body and upper parts plumbeous; the wings and back glossed with olive-brown. Anterior half of head above brownish-yellow, the shafts of the stiff feathers black; behind this is a white transverse band which passes back along the side of the crown; within this white, anteriorly and laterally, is a black suffusion. The vertex and occiput are light brown. Chin and throat black, margined laterally and behind by a white band, beginning behind the eye. Belly pale buff anteriorly (an orange-brown rounded patch in the middle) and white laterally, the feathers all margined abruptly with black. The feathers on the sides of body like the back, streaked centrally with white. Feathers of top and sides of neck with the margins and shafts black. Under tail-coverts buff, broadly streaked centrally with brown.

Female similar, without the white and black of the head; the feathers of the throat brownish-yellow, streaked with brown. The buff and orange-brown of the belly wanting. The crest short. Length, 9.50; wing, 4.32; tail, 4.12.

Young. Head as in the adult female. Upper parts pale brown, finely mottled transversely with black; scapulars and feathers of the back with yellowish-white shaft-streaks, widening at the end of the feather, and with a large black spot on each web.

Chick. Ground-color dingy white, tinged on the head, wings, and upper parts with pale rusty. A broad stripe on occiput and nape umber-brown; upper parts with rather confused and rather elongated mottlings; an indistinct auricular spot. Beneath plain dull white.