Cyrtonyx massena, Gould.
MASSENA PARTRIDGE.
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.
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.