fine dentations; nostrils basal, rather large, and covered with an operculum; orbits plumed; wings rather
lengthened and concave; primaries very rigid, the fourth, fifth and sixth the longest; tail rather long, and
composed of- twelve rigid feathers; tarsi spurless, and as well as toes rather slender, the latter united at the
base by a membrane; thejnner toe the shortest.
Of this section six species are now known, and they are by far the most elegant members of the whole
family: all of them exhibit a pleasingly contrasted style of plumage, and are ornamented with a graceful
crest differing in character in every species; forming in C. picta an attenuated plume which reaches to
the back; rising upwards and falling forwards over the bill in C. Californica, and concave and tufted in C.
squamata: in the first-mentioned species, the ornament would seem to be carried to its maximum. All the
species yet discovered inhabit Mexico; the range of one or two of them extends to the western parts of
North America, and of most of them to California. They are characterized by a uniformity of tint on the
upper surface which is generally olive. In size they are larger than the members of the genus Eupsychortyx;
still the largest species is smaller than the Common Partridge of Europe.
The sexes differ considerably in colour, the females being unadorned with any bright markings, and
having a less developed crest.
The following valuable notes respecting the members of this genus have been kindly transmitted to me
by Dr. Gambel of Philadelphia:—
“ Each species appears to inhabit quite a different region, however numerous they may be in their
respective localities. Along the whole coast of Upper California, most of which I have traversed, I never met
with any other than C. Californica, of which species I there met immense flocks;—I think I have seen as
many as a thousand or more rise at once into the trees upon a sudden alarm. They form their nests on the
ground under a bush or tree, and sometimes lay a great number of eggs.”
The species are :—
16. Callipepla picta . . . . . . . . PI. XV.
“ The C. picta," says Dr. Gambel, “ inhabits the mountains of the northern portions of Upper California
bordering on Oregon.”
17. Callipepla Californica . . . . . . . PI. XVI.
Callipepla Californica, Gamb. in Joum. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., vol. i. p. 218.
“ This beautiful bird,” says Dr. Gambel, “ is extremely abundant throughout California; in the winter
season congregating in large flocks, sometimes- of as many as a thousand or more, in those places where there
I N T R O D U C T I O N . 19
are woods enough to afford covert for so many. They also resort to the bushy plains and ravines of the
hills. Displaying all the watchfulness of the Virginian Quail, they are even more swift of foot, eluding
pursuit by running and hiding with surprising speed ; but upon sudden alarm are more apt to fly into the
trees, where they lie close upon the horizontal branches like so many squirrels, which, added to their colour,
resembling somewhat the bark, renders them difficult to be seen, They are exceedingly graceful in their
deportment, and when running have the crest elevated and thrown backwards; but when at rest, walking
on the ground or over piles of brush, carry it curved forward overhanging the front.
“ The nest is formed upon the ground at the foot of a tree, or under cover of a bush. The number of
eggs is sometimes very great, as in the instance of one which I found at Monterey, July 20th. It was a
shallow hole scratched in the ground at the foot of an oak-tree, with a few blades of dried grass around
the sides, but bare at the bottom, and contained twenty-four eggs! I judged from the appearance of them,
that two birds had laid in the same nest, as fifteen of them were of a different shade from the others.”
18. Callipepla Gambelii....................................... ......... PI. XVII.
19. ------------- e le g a n s .....................................................................PI. XVIII.
20. — ;------- Douglasii. . . . .
Call. Cristd nigrescenti fused, recurvatd, spatuliformi.
Crest blackish brown, inclined backwards, and of a spatulate form.
Ortyx Douglasii, Vig. in Zool. Journ. vol. iv. p. 354.—Doug, in Linn. Trans, vol. xvi. p. 145.—Jard. and Selb. 111.
Orn. vol. iii. pi. 107.—Vig. in Zool. of Beechey’s Voy. p. 27. pi. 11.—Less. 111. de Zool. texte de pi. 52, and
Birds of Am. vol. iv. pi. 418, young.
Lophortyx Douglasi, Bonap. List of Birds of Eur. and Am. p. 43.
The original and only specimen of this species known, is in the Collection of the Zoological Society of
London, to which it was presented by Captain Beechey. It appears to me to be an immature bird, and I
was for a long time doubtful whether it might not prove to be a female or young of Callipepla elegans; the
uniform blackish brown colouring of the crest, which in my opinion would not be found to characterize that
of C. elegans at any age, has, however, determined me in retaining it as distinct. If my supposition of the
specimen in question being immature be correct, the adult male will doubtless be a bird of considerable
beauty, although, from the temperature of the latitudes it is said to inhabit, it is not likely that it will be
so brilliant in plumage as the more southern species.
Habitat. Western coasts of America.