Color Key to North American Birds Part 31

Unlike the Ring-necked Pheasant (_Phasia.n.u.s torquatus_) it has no white collar. The last named species, however, has also been introduced into England where it freely interbreeds with the earlier established English Pheasant and individuals without at least a trace of white on the neck are now comparatively rare.

The Cura.s.sows and Guans are tropical American birds, only one species reaching the southern border of the United States. They are arboreal in habit and form an interesting link between the Partridges, etc. and the Pigeons.

Bob-white and Partridge

[Ill.u.s.tration: 289.]

=289. Bob-white; 'Quail;' 'Partridge'= (_Colinus virginia.n.u.s_). L. 10.

_Ad._ [Male]. Throat, forehead and line over eye white. _Ad._ [Female]. Throat, forehead and line over eye buff. _Notes._ Song, a ringing, whistled _Bob-white_ or _buck-wheat-ripe_; calls, a conversational _quit-quit_ and a whistled _where-are-you_ and _I'm here_, repeatedly uttered when the individuals of a flock are separated.

Range.--Eastern North America, resident from southern Dakota, southern Minnesota, southern Ontario, southern Vermont, New Hamps.h.i.+re and Maine, south to Georgia and western Florida; west to South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and eastern Texas. "Introduced at various points in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Idaho, California and Was.h.i.+ngton." (A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 289a.]

=289a. Florida Bob-white= (_C. v. florida.n.u.s_). Similar to No. 289, but smaller, L. 8.5, and much darker; black bars below more numerous.

_Range.--Florida; typical only in southern half of peninsula, grading into No. 289 in northern and western parts of the state._

=289b. Texan Bob-white= (_C. v. texa.n.u.s_). Similar to No. 289, but brown and buff areas paler; black bars below wider.

Range.--Texas, except western part, rarely to western Kansas, south to Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 291.]

=291. Masked Bob-white= (_Colinus ridgwayi_). L. 9. _Ad._ [Male].

Throat black; breast and belly reddish brown. _Ad._ [Female].

Resembles [Female] of No. 289b. _Notes._ Song, _Bob-white_; call, when the birds are scattered, _hoo-we_. (H. Brown.)

Range.--Northern Sonora, Mexico, north to Pima County, Arizona.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 296.]

=296. Mearns Partridge= (_Cyrtonyx montezumae mearnsi_). L. 9. _Ad._ [Male]. Sides with numerous, large, crowded white spots. _Ad._ [Female]. _Pinkish brown_, above _streaked_ with buffy and marked with chestnut and black, below with a few broken black bars.

_Notes._ A low, murmuring whine; a clear _dsiup-chiur_, when alarmed, _chuk-chuk-chuk_. (Bendire.)

Range.--Northern Mexico, western Texas, southern New Mexico and southern Arizona.

Partridges

[Ill.u.s.tration: 292.]

=292. Mountain Partridge= (_Oreortyx pictus_). L. 11. _Ads._ _Hindhead_ and _nape_ same color as back; inner margins of tertials buff. _Notes._ Song, an explosive whistle ending in a throaty tone; call, a rapidly repeated _cuh-cuh-cuh-cuh_, and a sharp _pit-pit_.

Range.--Pacific coast from Santa Barbara, California, north to southern Was.h.i.+ngton.

=292a. Plumed Partridge= (_O. p. plumiferus_). Hindhead, nape, and foreback same _color as breast_; inner margins of tertials _white_.

Range.--Sierra Nevada (both slopes), east to Panamint Mountains; and to Mount Magruder, Nevada; south in the coast ranges from San Francis...o...b..y to Lower California (Campos). (A.O.U.)

=292b. San Pedro Partridge= (_O. p. confinis_). Similar to No. 292a, but upperparts much grayer, the back, rump, and upper tail-coverts being gray very slightly tinged with olive; bill stouter. (Ridgway.)

Range.--San Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 293.]

=293. Scaled Partridge= (_Callipepla squamata_). L. 10. _Ads._ Belly _without_ chestnut patch; breast and foreback grayish blue edged with black; back brownish gray. _Notes._ A nasal _pe-cos' pe-cos'_ (Bailey.)

Range.--"Tableland of Mexico, from the Valley of Mexico, north to central and western Texas, Santa Fe, New Mexico and southern Arizona." (A.O.U.)

=293a. Chestnut-bellied Scaled Partridge= (_C. s. castanogastris_).

Similar to No. 293, but [Male] with chestnut patch on belly; [Female]

with belly much rustier than in [Female] of No. 293.

Range.--Lower Rio Grande Valley, northwest to Eagle Pa.s.s, Texas; south into northeastern Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 294.]

=294. California Partridge= (_Lophortyx californica_). L. 10.

_Ad._ [Male]. Above _olive-brown_; belly patch chestnut. _Ad._ [Female]. Plumes shorter; throat whitish streaked with dusky; no distinct chestnut patch on belly. _Notes._ Song, a pheasant like crow and a crowing, emphatic _sit-right-down'_, _sit-right-down'_; calls, a sharp _pit-pit pit_, and a note like that of a young Robin.

Range.--"Coast region of California south to Monterey, introduced in Oregon, Was.h.i.+ngton, and British Columbia." (A.O.U.)

=294a. Valley Partridge= (_L. c. vallicola_). Similar to No. 294, but much grayer above; sometimes plain bluish gray without brown tinge.

Range.--"From western and southern Oregon, except near the coast, south through western Nevada and the interior of California to Cape St. Lucas." (Bendire.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 295.]

=295. Gambel Partridge= (_Lophortyx gambelii_). L. 10. _Ad._ [Male].

Throat, forehead and belly patch _black_; hindhead chestnut. _Ad._ [Female]. Similar, but throat grayish buff; forehead gray; no black on belly; hind head brownish; crest smaller. _Notes._ Song, _yuk-kae-ja._

Range.--"Western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Utah, southern Nevada, southern California in the Colorado Valley and south into northwestern Mexico." (A.O.U.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 297.]

297. Dusky Grouse (_Dendragapus obscurus_). L. [Male], 20. [Female], 18. _Ad._ [Male]. Gray tail-band _over_ one inch wide on middle feather; below grayish slate; above blackish with fine rusty and grayish markings. _Ad._ [Female]. With more white below; foreback regularly _barred_ with buffy; middle tail-feathers irregularly barred with buff or grayish; terminal gray band finely marked with black.

_Notes._ A loud, ventriloquial, hooting or booming.

Range.--"Rocky Mountains, from central Montana and southeastern Idaho to New Mexico and Arizona; east to the Black Hills, South Dakota and west to East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada." (A.O.U.)

=297a. Sooty Grouse= (_D. o. fuliginosus_). Similar to No. 297, but slightly darker, gray band on central tail feather _less_ than one inch wide.