THE. CO.IB.R olume September-October, lc)O? Number With the Mearns (?uail in Southwestern Texas BV LOUIS AGASSIZ FUERTES F all the bizarre and curious creatures that live in our county, it would be hard to find one more arbitrarily marked, or colored more apparently in opposition to all the laws of protective grad- ation and coloration than the Mearns quail, or as has been longer known, the Massena partridge or "Fool Quail." It is especially noticeable in this case since the other genera in the family are among the most remarkable exponents of the per- fection of 'locality painting,' being dark above, where the most light strikes them, and pale below, where the shadow comes, thus making a monotinted ground upon which the most exquisite detail of scenery is painted. This assists the creature to be assimilated into its natural setting to a degree which only those who have come face to face with a sitting grouse or quail can truly appreciate. Therefore, when we see the fantastic little cock Massena with his dark chestnut breast, jet black belly and flanks, and harlequin-painted head, it is hard to conceive how he was ever able to qualify in the race for survival among a group of birds so marvellously protected as his congeners. With the prospect of a field trip into the "Big Bend Country" in western Texas, I looked forward with the keenest pleasure to meeting the Mearns quail (Cyrto?yx montezum?e mearnsi) for I felt sure that he would, in some ingenious way, justify his bold deviation from his family's stock traits. The accounts I had heard of his stupid tameness made me wonder the more, for it is a fairly good rule that those birds most beautifully assimilable in their nalural landscape, rely on their inconspicuousness the most, and those, which do not thus hide in 'full view' take flight or run on the apprehension of danger. Here seemed to be a strong contradiction, which I lmped to solve.
