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COMMON PARTRIDGE.
Perdix cinerea, Lath.
La Perdrix grise.
So exclusively European is this celebrated bird, .bat as far as our own observation go, and these have uot
been c.reumscr.bed, we have never seen an example either from Asia or Africa; although M. Temminck
brtween^he 0 1H R H T 0f,,Barbary- In a®nity * aPPears t0 "8 *° ™ k H intermediate
between the Quads and Redlegs, and wtth some species from India to form an independent genus to the
exclusmn o f the Quads on the one hand and the Redlegs on the other; and as the Quails have been already
separated, it is to us very evident that the Redlegs ought to be separated also
We do not propose to enter into any details respeeting the eircumstanees that render the Partridge so
interesting to sportsmen, as the subject has already engaged the attention o f numerous writers, to whose
accounts we have nothing to add.
The Partndge pairs early in spring, when fierce contests ensue between the males for the possession o f the
females. They rear one brood ,n the year, consisting o f from ten to eighteen young, which generally make
their appearance about the end o f June, and continue associated during the autumn and winter, forming what
the sportsman calls a covey, and in the ensuing spring separate, each selecting its mate. The eggs are
deposited on the ground in a small hollow, scratched for the purpose under the cover o f a tuft o f g L or
any similar material, and is not nnfrequently found in fields o f clover or standing corn. The males are
distinguished from the females by being larger ill: size, by possessing a brighter colour about the face bv
having a large chestnut-coloured mark on the breast, and by wanting the transve.se bars o f brown on the
upper surface so conspicuous in the plumage o f the female.
The Partridge prefers wide tracts o f rich corn land to more barren and uncultivated districts, aud in bleak
and mountainous situations is almost unknown.
The male has the cheek, throat and a stripe over each eye pale buff; the neck and breast bluish
gray ornamented with fine zigzag black lines; on the breast a large horseshoe-shaped patch o f chestnut
brown; flanks grey, banded with pale brown; hack, wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts brawn transversely
haraed and spotted with black; shafts o f the scapularies and wing-eoverts yellowish white edged with black!
quills blackish grey barred with brawn; tail reddish orange; bill, legs, and toes bluish g re y ! irides brown ^
naked skm behind the eye red. J ’
t h I hherartiCUlarS “ ^ ‘ he “ differS M " S ie e ” P° inted °Ut ah° Te’ !t 1 bc unQccessary to repeat
We have figured male and female o f the natural size.