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!
Hybrid birds between Northern bobwhite and Masked bobwhite, 2019
I firstly would like to precise that the below-pictured birds were not bred in my aviaries but well bought from another breeder.
They normally should have been pure specimens of the Masked bobwhite (Colinus virginianus ridgwayi) but a quick 5 seconds examination confirmed that there is without any doubt blood of Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) mixed inside…
I have no idea how much %, F1 or F2? and the exact mating(s) done…
Male:
Female:
This is a little “head comparison” collage I made of the two pure species and my “hybrid” bird in the middle… I think it helps to understand better!

It is quite difficult to determine how much % blood of common Northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) is present in the genotype of those hybrid birds but, in my opinion, the breeder crossed more that one time …
I will not try to make the same collage with female heads because the difference is most on the back for hens.