Natterer of Vienna, the Prince Massena, the Earl of Derby, the Baron de la Fresnaye, the Zoological
Society of London, the Viscomte DuBus, the Directors of the Royal Museums of Berlin, Leyden and
Paris, and the Museums of Neufchatel and the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia ; all of whom
have, where necessary, most liberally lent me even unique specimens for illustration, besides which
my own collection has been from time to time enriched by the addition of several new and undescribed
species.
All the members of this group are strictly American, and by far the greater number of them are natives of
that portion of the continent lying between the 30th degree of North latitude and the Equator. Four species
are now included in the fauna of North America, and four have been discovered in Brazil; some few extend
their range to the larger of the West Indian Islands; the late researches among the Andes, particularly
in Peru, Bolivia, and the neighbourhood of Santa Fe de Bogota, have made us acquainted with several
others; and it is in the countries contiguous to that vast mountain range that additional species may most
probably yet be found.
That the members of this group are of very general interest to ornithologists, is. evidenced by the fact
that several writers have given a synoptical list of the species with which they were acquainted. Not more
than two appear to have been known to Linnaeus, by whom they were included in his genus Tetrao. Latham,
in the eighth volume of his “ General History of Birds,” published in 1823, enumerates nine species, two
of which being synonymous with others, the number is reduced to seven. At the first Scientific Meeting of
the Zoological Society of London, held on the 9th of November, 1830, Mr. Vigors stated that nine species
were then known, to which he added Ortyx neoxenus and 0. affinis, at the same-time expressing his doubts
as to whether they might not prove to be females or young males of Ortyx Sonninii or 0 . cristatus; and it has
since been ascertained that his 0 . neoxenus is the female of 0 . cristatus; but his 0 . affinis will, I believe,
prove to be a distinct species. M. Lesson was the next author who gave a list of the species of this group,
of which he only enumerates nine ; and the last writers who appear to have given a general revision of the
subject are Messrs. Jardine and Selby, who in .the Synopsis Specierum published in the first and
third volumes of their r Illustrations of Ornithology,” increase the number to eleven. By most of these
authors, some mistakes have been made as to the identity of the species and the synonyms having reference
to them; and in more than one instance, the old Perdix Falklandicus, a bird belonging to a totally different
group, is included in the genus Ortyx. Few of my readers will, I apprehend, be prepared to learn that not
less than thirty-five species are now known; of these, several have been lately described by myself in the
“ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,” and others by Messrs. Lichtenstein, Lesson and Natterer in
various continental publications. Vieillot was the first author who perceived the propriety of separating one
of the members of this group from Tetrao and Perdix; proposing the term Odontophorus for the Tetrao
Guianensis of Gmelin; a fact, with which Mr. Stephens must have been unacquainted when he proposed
the term Ortyx for the American Partridges collectively, with 0 . Virginianus for the type. These two
generic terms are now generally adopted for two distinct sections of the group; for a third the appellation
of Callipepla was proposed by Wagler, and Lophortyx by Bonaparte; the former term, having
the priority, is the one retained. Considerable diversity of opinion exists with regard to the propriety
of giving names to these subdivisions of families, but this is a point upon which I need not here
enter: that such divisions do really exist, will, I think, be apparent to all who will carefully examine
this or any other large group of birds; . and my own observations lead me to believe, that wherever
structural differences, however slight, are found to exist, a difference' will also be found in habits and
economy; and that the members of each of these sections will possess a character of plumage common to
themselves, but not to the whole group. With certainly the most entire series of this tribe of birds that has
ever been brought together, from which to draw my deductions, I may state, that the genera or subgenera
must not be confined to three or four, but must extend to six or seven; for the first of which I propose to
retain Mr. Stephens’s name of
ORTYX,
WITH THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS
Rostrum breve et robustum; culmine gradatim a basi descendente, tomiis acutis; mandibulA inferiore rectA, et
apicem versfis denticulis duobus vel pluribus instructs; naribus magnis, et .operculo obtectis; orbitis vel phimosis,
vel aliquanto denudatis; verticis plumis paulo elongatis; alee concavee, mediocrit&r elongates, pri-
mariis rigidis; quarts, quintA et sextA longioribus; cauda brevis, et e plumis duodecim integris confecta;
tarsi, cum digitis et unguibus, modicfe elongati, digitis anticis membranA basali conjunctis, digit© intemo
cseteris breviore.
Bill short and stout; culmen gradually descending from the base; tomia sharp; lower mandible straight, and
armed near the tip with two or three dentations; nostrils large, and covered with an operculum; orbits either
plumed or very slightly denuded; feathers of the crown slightly elongated; wings concave and moderately
long; primaries rigid, the fourth, fifth and sixth the longest; tail short, and composed of twelve well-developed
feathers; tarsi spurless, and with the toes and nails moderately long; anterior toes united at the base by a
membrane, the inner toe the shortest.
The section is strictly a northern one; .one species inhabiting the United States and extending its range
to Mexico and Jamaica, another Cuba and probably Mexico, and the three others are, I believe, confined to
Mexico.
Most of. the members of this group are about the size of the European Quail. They go in coveys,