Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian AmericaCassin, John
Science
Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America
Cassin, John
Birds -- North America
Length (of skin) about 4 inches. Male, broad stripes on each side of the
head under the eye, and uniting on the occiput, deep black with a green
metallic lustre. Head above pale cinereous, body above cinereous brown,
throat and neck white, below ashy white, with a purplish tinge, bill and
legs dark. Female, with the ears brown.
Hab. Texas and Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad. Philada.
Obs. This pretty little bird has the bill longer and more compressed
than either the preceding species, or _Psaltria exilis_, Temm. It is,
however, we think, a true _Psaltria_, in which respect we coincide with
Prof. Westerman, who gives a description and excellent figure of it in
Contributions to Zoology, (Bijdragen tot de Dierkunden,) Amsterdam,
1851.
A few other names have been given to American species of the old genus
_Parus_ by the earlier authors, all of which are undoubtedly synonymes
for those of species previously described, and which we have enumerated.
We have in all cases given the authority for the first description and
its date.
Chamæa fasciata. (Gambel) a bird of California—though described
originally, but as Dr. Gambel expressly states provisionally only, as a
_Parus_, we regard as properly belonging to the family of Wrens
(Troglodytidæ.)
[Illustration: Plate 4
The Massena Partridge
Cyrtonyx Massena (_Lesson_)]
CYRTONYX MASSENA.—(Lesson.)
The Massena Partridge.
PLATE IV.—Male and Female.
This singularly, we had almost said, fantastically colored, though very
handsome Partridge, is an inhabitant of Texas and Mexico. No other
species presents such a remarkable arrangement of colors, and the black
lines in the face of the male bird, as the eminent English
Ornithologist, Mr. Gould, very appropriately observes, “forcibly remind
one of the painted face of the clown in a pantomime.”
It has, until recently, been an exceedingly rare and highly prized bird
in collections, a few specimens only having reached Europe or the cities
on the Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Those have received
names, and have been described by various European authors, as will
appear from the synonymes included in the present article; but neither
of them have published any information relative to the habits or history
of this curious bird, nor have indicated the district of Mexico from
which it had been received. It has been known only as a museum species.
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