P R E F A C E .
W e r e it necessary to assign a reason for the publication o f the present Monograph, I might
state that it is due to the interest excited in my mind by the sight o f several living examples of
the beautiful Callipepla Ca lif ornica, brought home and presented to the Zoological Society of
London by Captain Beechey in 1830. The graceful actions and elegant deportment o f these,
birds inspired me with a desire to become thoroughly acquainted with the entire group, of
which they form a part; this desire was even strengthened by the details furnished to me by
the late celebrated traveller and botanist, Mr. David Douglas, respecting species seen by him
in California, o f the existence o f which we had until then no idea.
So little had at that time been recorded respecting this group o f birds, that Mr. Bennett
remarked, in his “ Gardens and Menagerie o f the Zoological Society Delineated ” :— “ From
some observations lately offered by Mr. Vigors, before the Committee o f Science and
Correspondence o f the Zoological Society, it appears that the number o f species of this
genus, which until within three years o f the present time did not exceed four, or at the
utmost five (some o f them very imperfectly known), has partly by the researches o f Mr. David
Douglas, and partly by the additions made in various ways to the Society’s collection, been