The Blue Partridge was first noticed within the territory of the United States, by Lieut. J. W. Abert, a son of the distinguished officer who presides over the Topographical Department of the Army. In Lieut. Abert’s very able and valuable “Report of an examination of New Mexico in the years 1846-7,” made as an officer of Topographical Engineers, and which, besides its great military and geographical usefulness, contains much information relating to the natural history of that country, we find several notices of this bird, one of which, occurring under date of twelfth of November, 1846 (p. 497), we take the liberty of transferring to our pages:— “After passing through the little town of Las Canas, we encountered another hill of sand, very difficult of ascent, and after we reached the top, we commenced the descent through a crooked ravine that was strewed with fragments of rocks. On the way, we saw several flocks of crested quails, which were running along with great rapidity among the clumps of the Kreosote plant (_Larrea mexicana_). We procured one of them; at the report of the gun, only three or four rose up; they seemed to depend more on their fleetness of foot than swiftness of wing. This bird proved to be the _Ortyx squamata_. The size, contour, and general character, greatly resemble the common quail (_O. virginiana_); the plumage is of soft, silvery gray, the iris hazel, and the crest fringed with white. On opening the stomach, I found it filled with grass seeds and insects of the order Hemiptera.” This is the earliest record of this bird having been observed within the limits of the United States; subsequently, it has been noticed by others. Capt. S. G. French, of the United States Army, to whom we are indebted for fine specimens of this and other birds of Western America, has also favored us with the following note:— “It was in 1846 that I first met with this bird near Camargo, on the Rio Grande. At Monterey, none were to be found; but on the plains at Agua Nueva, a few miles south of Saltillo, I observed them in considerable numbers. “Since then, I have met with them occasionally on the Upper Rio Grande, in the vicinity of El Paso, and some seventy miles down the river from that place. They inhabit the same section of country with Gambel’s Partridge, though I have never seen them associated together in the same covey. Their favorite resorts are the sandy chaparral and mesquite bushes, through which they run with great swiftness, resorting to the wing only when suddenly alarmed by finding themselves too nearly approached. “They appear to be very shy, and but seldom are found near habitations, though I once saw a large covey run through my camp in the suburbs of El Paso. “The bird that I sent you was killed on the Rio Grande, below El Paso, in July last (1852).”