ORTYX' :PECTOlRAMSs
ORTYX PECTORALIS, Gould.
Black-breasted Partridge.
S p e c if ic C h aracter.
Ort. lined angusta a lb a fro n ta li super oculos e t p e r nucham ductd ; g u la alba ; pectore nigris ;
abdomine, lateribus e t crisso, cervinis.
Crown o f the head and back o f the neck blackish brown; a narrow stripe o f white crosses the
forehead, passes over the eye, and extends down the back o f the neck below the occiput;
ear-coverts, sides o f the neck and chest, black; throat w h ite ; abdomen, flanks and under
tail-coverts fawn-colour; the tips o f the feathers on the lower part o f the flanks spotted
with black and w h ite ; the upper part o f the back, scapularies and shoulders chestnut-
brown ; wing-coverts, tertiaries, back and upper tail-coverts greyish brown ; all the feathers
o f the upper surface margined and speckled with very light fawn-colour, which on the
secondaries assumes the form o f distinct bars; in addition to these marks, the scapularies,
secondaries, back and rump are minutely freckled with brown; the strongly contrasted
markings giving all the upper surface a bespangled appearance; primaries brownish g r e y ;
tail-feathers bluish grey, some o f them freckled on the margin with buff; bill black; feet
flesh-white.
Total length, 8 inches; bill, i ; wing, 4 ; tail, 2i ; tarsi, 11; middle toe and nail, HO
rty x pectoralis, Gould in Proc. o f Zool. Soc., Part X . p. 182; Gray and Mitch. Gen. of
Birds, vol. iii. p. 514, O rty x , sp. 6.
T his well-defined species of Ortyx is a native of Mexico, but what particular province it inhabits I am unable
to say: it is a smaller bird than 0. Cubanensis, and differs from that species in the total absence of any marks
on the flanks and abdomen, which are of uniform fulvous. It is a rare bird in the European collections,v but
there is a fine example in the Museum of the Earl of Derby, and a tolerably good one in that of Leyden : it
is. from these individuals that my figures were taken. The Earl of Derby’s bird was living in his fine Aviary
in 1840.
Habitat. Mexico.
The figures represent males of the natural size; I am unacquainted with the female.