'CMJUtHEM&A G A iS B E lII :
Gambel’s Partridge.
S p e c if ic C haracter.
Call, loris, g u ttu re e t crista n ig ris; hac erecta, paululum recurvata, nequidhn u t in C. Californicit,
abdomine inferiore nigro pone lunulam latam ceroinam; lateribm nitide castaneis, singulis
plumis striga alba centrali notatis.
Forehead, chin and throat deep velvety black, encircled from the posterior angle o f the eye with
a broad line o f w h ite ; across the head and passing down behind the eye another line of
white, bounded posteriorly with black ; crest straight, erect, and o f a deep black; occiput
rusty red ; feathers o f the sides and back o f the neck lanceolate in form and o f a blue-grey,
encircled all round with brown, and with a narrow line o f the same colour down the
centre; back, wings, rump and upper tail-coverts olive-grey; tertiaries edged with buff
narrowly on their outer webs and broadly on their inner ones; tail grey; chest blue-grey;
upper part of the abdomen buff; centre o f the abdomen black; flank feathers rich
chestnut, with a line o f buffy white down the centre; lower part of the abdomen and
under tail-coverts sandy buff, with a broad stripe of greyish brown down the centre o f each
o f the latter; bill black ; feet brown.
Total length, 9£ inches; bill, -H; wing, 4 t ; tail, 4 ; tarsi, 1a ; middle toe and nail, I t .
L o p h o rtyx Gambelii, Nutt. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., vol. i. p. 260.
Callipepla Gambelii, Gamb. Journ. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phil., vol. i. p. 219, New Ser.
Callipepla venusta, Gould in Proc. o f Zool. Soc., Part X IV . p. 70.
In my description of Callipepla Californica I have stated that it is second in beauty to no member of the
group; but at that time I was unaware of the existence of the C. Gambelii, which may dispute the palm,
and is indeed a still finer bird. As yet I have only seen two examples, one of which is in the Museum at
Neufchatel, the other in that of the Garden of Plants at Paris. As soon as these came under my observation,
I hastened to make the existence of the species known by characterizing it in the “ Proceedings of the
Zoological Society,” under the name of venusta, but soon after found that it. had been previously named
Gambelii by Nuttall after his friend Dr. Gambel, which appellation I have accordingly adopted, and sunk my
own into a synonym. I have also great pleasure in giving the following extract from Dr. Gambel’s
account of the species tfjpgfcl
“ This beautiful species I discovered on the eastern side of the Californian Range of mountains in 1841.
They were numerous, in flocks of fifteen or twenty, running about in company with another species, which
I thought new also; but the specimens I had procured, whilst engaged in skinning this, were devoured
almost at my elbow by a couple of hungry ravens. Several spiral-podded species of Prosopis, with low
spreading branches, afforded them excellent covert, and the seeds of bushy Malvas, Chenopodiums, and
Artemisias, probably served them as food in that dreary region.
“ Here, where one would suppose it to be impossible for any animal to subsist, they were seen running
about in small flocks, occasionally uttering a low guttural call of recognition, sometimes of several notes very
different from that of the common species. When flying they utter a loud sharp whistle, and conspicuously
display the long crest.”
It is very nearly allied to C. Californica, but is distinguished from that bird by the erect carriage of the
crest, the rich colouring of the flank feathers, by the absence of the scale-like markings of the abdomen,
and the greater length of the tail.
Habitat. California.
The figures are of the natural size, taken from an adult specimen kindly lent to me by M. Louis Coulon,
Director of the Museum at Neufchatel.