68 THE CONDOR I Vot,. V than explain the preoccupation of the big bird in the tree top. While studying the nestling, noting his dark brown eyes, and the lemon yellow of his face-skin and bare legs, I quite forgot hts weapons, but, disturbing him a little had such a forcible reminder in the sharp sting of his talons that when I finally loosed them and put him down on the ground, I- went away with little fear for his safety, though he had prematurely left the nest. Stray Notes from Southern Arizona. By F. H. FOWLER. LL the original material in the following notes was collected by the author during a four years' residence in Arizona, September ?89o, to October ?894- Most of the work was done in the Huachuca i?nd Chiricahua Mountains, and in the San Pedro, Sulphur Springs, and San Simon Valleys, in Cochise County, the extreme southeastern corner of the Territory. A few notes were taken during a trip as far north as Prescott, in the months of May, June and July in ?893. MASSENA PARTRIDGE. The Massena partridge (Cyrtonyx monlezumt? mearnsi) is essentially a bird of the lower pine and oak belts in the mountains of Arizona. Its range north of our borders is quite extensive, reaching as it does from the national boundary between Arizona and Mexico, north to Prescott, east to Taos, New Mexico, and south to the eastern limit in the Bandera Hills north of San An- tonio, Texas. Personally I have met with this bird in the Huachuca, Carmelita and White Mountains of Arizona. In the month of July ?89x , 1 saw large flocks of these birds in the open grassy glades among the live oaks on the southern slope. of the Huachucas a few miles north of the Mexican line. They were more num- erous here than at any other point at which I have observed them, the flocks num- bering fully twenty-five birds, doubtless comprising two families. The country was ideal for them as food, water and shelter were close at hand, and natural enemies were few. The next place I found them was in the Carmelira Mountains, a range of heavily wooded hills extending west from the northern end of the Huachucas. I was out in these hills for a few days in the latter part of March ?892 , and found that the Massehas had already paired and were evidently busy hunting up good nesting places. I saw only two pairs, but these showed how different the actions of birds of the same species can be under the same conditions. The first pair I came upon in some open oak brush; both birds walked slowly off--the male utter- ing a very low, clucking note and both puffing out their derby-like crest. I shot the male at a very close range, and the female flew out of reach with a speed which I think cannot be equalled by any other species of the quail family. The next pair ran a few yards, hid in the grass, and when I pursued them on foot, flew up with an equal speed and disappeared behind a thick grove of trees. In a canyon about a mile above the post of Fort Huachuca, a female evidently had a nest hidden among some scrub oaks and mescal plants. She was seen at this place at least half a dozen times during the latter part ot May ?892 , skulking away through the brush, but a careful search failed to reveal the nest. In this canyon also were several small coveys of six or eight each, which could be found along the trail almost any day, and when discovered would usually run swiftly, single file for the brush, where they would scatter to hide.
