I made the under-reported pictures to clearly show you the difference between the “pearl” colour-mutation of the Northern Bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) and the Mexican speckled bobwhite (Colinus mexicanus).
I pretty know that some scientists consider that the Mexican bobwhite is a mutation of the Northern bobwhite that appeared in the wild.
In fact, the intercrossing of these species produce chicks of both phenotypes, without alternation of the type and I personally think that those scientists are right…. but this is not the subject of this post…
So, I made a few pictures of two females to let you see the different pattern on the back and also on the head. I will try to take the time to take the same pictures with males too.
Have a look!