©JELTYX COYOLCOS.
ORTYX COYOLCOS.
Coyolcos Partridge.
S p e c if ic C harac t er .
Ort. g u la nigra, pectore, e t corpore inferiore castaneo-rujis.
Forehead, sides o f the neck and throat black; over and behind the eye an obscure line of
buffy white; back o f the neck chestnut-brown, with oblong spots o f white; upper surface
reddish brown, each feather crossed with dark brown, and spotted on the margin with
buffy white; primaries brown; tail slate-grey, the centre feathers freckled with w hite;
chest and all the under surface chestnut-red; bill black; feet fleshy brown.
Total length, 7^ inches; bill, ; wing, 3-j.; tail, 2$.; tarsi, 1a ; middle toe and nail, 1-^-.
P e rd ix Coyolcos, Lath. Ind. Orn., vol. ii. p. 653?—Bonn, et Vieill.Ency. M6th. Orn., Part I.
p. 215 ?
Tetrao Coyolcos, Gmel. Syst., vol. i. p. 763 ?
Coturnix Mexicana, Briss. Orn., tom. i. p. 256.—lb . 8vo Edit., tom. i. p. 71 ?
Coyolcozque, sen Cali sonalis, Ray, Syn. Av., p. 158 ?
Coturnix Indica, Willoughby, Orn., p. 304 ?
L e Coyolcos, Buff. Ois., tom. ii. p. 486 ?
Lesser Mexican Quail, Lath. Gen. Syn., vol. iv. p. 786?—lb . Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 327?
O rty x Coyolcos, Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f Birds, vol. iii. p. 514, O rty x , sp. 3.
Coyolcozque of the Mexicans.
T his is one of the least and one of the rarest species of Ortyx with which I am acquainted ; its jet-black
throat, the deep and uniform chestnut colouring of its under surface, and the nearly obsolete line of bufly
white which surmounts the eye, serve at once to distinguish it from all its congeners ; it is moreover
characterized by the possession of a small and short crest, not well shown in my drawing, but which is very
apparent when erected. Occasionally specimens occur without a trace of the line over the eye, that part
being black like the throat. Although I have figured this bird as identical with the Perdix Coyolcos of
Latham and the older authors, their descriptions are so indefinite that it is by no means certain that such is
the case.
Habitat. Mexico ; locality Tabasco, according to the label attached to a fine specimen obligingly lent to
me by M. Le Viscomte DuBus of Brussels, in the Royal Museum of which city it may be seen.
The figures are of the natural size ; one of them may represent the female, with which sex I am unacquainted.