Small-headed, round-bodied quail with a very short tail. Males have a harlequin facial pattern, a deep chestnut breast, and white spots on their sides.
Small-headed, round-bodied quail that can be difficult to see well. Males have a harlequin pattern on the face and white dots on the side of its body.
Forages by scratching the ground for seeds, grass roots, acorns, and insects. Typically uses surrounding dense vegetation or large rocks for cover while foraging.
Small-headed, round-bodied quail with a very short tail. Females are cryptically marked in browns with whitish lines and a ghosting of the male's facial pattern.
Small-headed, round-bodied quail with a very short tail. Females are cryptically marked in browns with whitish dots and lines. They have a ghosting of the male's facial pattern.
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A very plump, short-tailed, round-winged game bird, with essentially no neck. It has an oddly shaped, narrow head with a crest at the back. The bill is heavy, short, and thick.
Larger than an Inca Dove, slightly smaller than a Scaled Quail or Gambel's Quail.
between robin and crowOrnithologists recognize four subspecies, two each on either side of the Rio Balsas drainage in Mexico. Birds in the United States are subspecies mearnsi, and are similar to the next closest subspecies in Mexico, montezumae. On the other side of the Rio Balsas are two subspecies (sallei, rowleyi) that differ notably from the northern two subspecies: instead of whitish spots on a blue-gray background, males in this group have dark gray flanks with large cinnamon spots, as well as more richly colored upperparts. Some ornithologists suggest these two subspecies should be considered a full species, called Salle’s Quail.
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