‘ERDIX CINEREA , Linn.
Partridge.
Tetrao perdix, Linn. Faun. A*»«’ »• 74.
Perdue cinerea, Lath. Ind. C
— vulgaris, Leads, Sysl
— cineracea, Brehnj, V
Stama cinerea, Bo nap. Geo
of Indig Mamm. and Birds in Brit. Mus., p. 27.
«twhl., p. 525.
Comp. List of Birds of Eur. and N. Amer., p. 43.
nor tin:
with i
range i
torrid ones
of this gem
out o f whic
outhern (list
is -'TU'ti'i?.. c«wanf*M*s hut three species—oar own well-known bird (P . cinerea'),
e Thibet side o f the- Himalayas, named in honour o f Mrs. Hodgson P. Hod^somee, ami
ra China (P . harhafti.*). Each o f these very distinct species enjoys a wide but different
vnr the Old W o rld ; neither of them, however, frequent the boreal regions o f the north
of the so u th ; consequently Africa, India, and Southern China are not tenanted by any
», The area <#»*■ which our own Partridge extends may be expressed in a single word—
i it rarely occur*. In England it is very generally d ispersed; in Scotland it is abundant
sets, but is rarely met with in the northern, and never, I believe, iu the Hebrides; in
ed over the cultivated grounds and their vicinity; but has never been so numerous as
pecimens from very many parts of the British Islands, my collection contains examples
, and Greece, all o f which exhibit a close resemblance to each other in the colouring
The British Popfndees differ considerably in size and weight—a circumstance mainly attributable to the
more or less i - v ; : c h a r a c t e r the food upon which they have been rea red ; the grass-land birds are
smaller than tfane from «»«vial and grain-bearing soils the largest
and heaviest. TUe late Ew? ■
so good as to weigh a expwwifc' fee my amtnwmot
ounces, while the average weight of the whole was mm&
time to time been kindly sent to me by L. H. l.«w»ber hatch, Esq., Imtu (be centre of the New Forest in
Hampshire, where they could never have seen com-stubble, were round, compact, little birds, rather dark
in colom*; of these the weight of the heaviest, fully adult males, varied from twelve and a half to thirteen
ounces. A Partridge exceeding a pound in weight is rarely met with ; in the whole course o f my shooting
1 never killed but o n e ; this was a t Preston Hall, in K e n t; but Mr. W. A. Tyssen Amhurst sent me a
IWtrid** which hod been killed a t Hunmanby, in Yorkshire, that weighed half an ounce over a pound;
Ife .".U; &wswwl me with six heavy birds from Norfolk, one o f which weighed the same.
T o enter into any details respecting the nesting of a bird so common and so well known would seem
wufwdteoitt; but I may mention that some individuals lay earlier than others, and that I possess notes,
amen* t* j *#**■. « f coveys having been seen as early as f;he 7th of May, while from the 18th to the
25th of J n n to ** which the chicks usually burst the shell.
The Duke o f keeper, who. was with me on the 14th o f Mi
th at he had on the -A tS&K $; a Pr*rtndge sitting, which he expected would
befo: ght. Bui
i Wales, i : which i
Lebed a t
ree di,tvs previo’
seen one cow
o f May. Tiv
. show
* Parti
1862, stated
uld hatch her eggs
me a note from his
» ; these, therefore,
ty was a remarkable
Generally the
but a t this seas
confidingly nests
must pass and i
o f twelve o r fou
equally unlikely
the Rev. Jo h n .
the per
, the flat
■ sunny of a bank o r hedge-row;
off it», usual shyness, and sometimes
tie ro*d*»de, where huudreds o f persons
e : :• v been known o f the deposition
feet from the ground, and in «the*
is described in the following not* by
v his brother and my estimable irtend
Hawkstone Park" (his I^ordsfoip’* ■■
•teen eggs, in some lo rn grana »psifcnl
n the ground. A new *«* *