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).”