O ther
V arie t ie s .
9*
DAMASCUS P.
D escription.
Place.
what puts it beyond doubt is, that it is found among flocks of
the Common Partridge, and pairs with that bird.
Buffon mentions alfo, that ten or twelve Partridges wholly
white, have been feen at once among others of the common fort;
and that thefe had the pupil of the eye red, as is common to the
White Hare, Rat, Ferret, &c. In the Leverian Mujeum is one
wholly of a pale cream-colour. A fecond variety, in the fame
place, has the head and half of the neck brownifh afh-colour,
marked with darker ftreaks : round the neck a white collar: the
under parts are alfo wholly white : the creft of the bird like the
Common Partridge, but very pale.
A further variety, wholly of a dun colour. And a fourth, much
variegated, and very beautiful : the crown and nape brdwn,
marked with rufous fpots: between the eyes, the chin, and
throat, of this laid colour : the fore part of the neck and breaft
cinereous, minutely fpeckled with black : on the breaft an borje-
jhoe: belly and vent yellowifh white : the upper parts not unlike
this bird in common, but more elegantly variegated.
he Perdrix de Damas, Brif. orn. i. p; 223. B.
La petite Perdrix grife, Buf. oif. ii. p. 417.
Perdrix Damafcena, Aldrev. (Daraaicus Partridge.) —- Bait Syn. p. 57. 3 .—
Will, orh. p. 167*
T H I S differs very little from the Common Partridge, except
the fize, being much fmaller : the bill is alfo longer than in
that fpecies ; and the legs are yellow.
This fort is fometimes feen in large flocks, palling through
Brie, and other parts of France, on its paffage elfewhere.
Buffon
Buffon mentions, that one hundred and fifty, or two hundred,
of thefe birds were once flopped for a whole day on their paf-
fage, attrafted by a call-bird of the common kind ; and draws
this as one ftrong proof of their affinity to that fpecies: yet their
migrating, which the other never does, feems to prove as ftrongly
againft: but this cannot be determined till the bird is better
known.
La Perdrix de Montagne, Brif. urn. i. p. 224. pi. 21. f. 2. — Buf. oif. ii. p. MOUNTAIN P.
419.—-i’i. enl. 136.'—Frifch. pi. 114. B.
g J IZE of the Common Partridge: length ten inches and three Dbscriptiok,
quarters. Bill red : head, throat, and hind part of the neck,
reddifh buff-colour : fore part,of the neck, breaft, upper part of
the belly, fides, and under tail coverts, pale chefnut: the up-,
per parts of the body and wings are likewife chefnut; but the
edges of the feathers are brownifh, and the back and fcapulars
have a mixture of grey: the lower belly, vent, and thighs, are
very pale buff-colour : the, tail confifts of twenty feathers; the
fix middle ones are chefnut brown, with grey tips; the feven on
each fide pale chefnut: legs red *.
This frequents the mountainous parts on the continent, and is P ia c e j
fometimes met with among flocks of the Common Partridges. It
feems an intermediate fpecies between that and the Red Par-
iridge, but is truly neither, as the firft has eighteen and the fecond
fixteen feathers only in the tail.
• According to Briffia, the bill is grey, and the legs grtyijb brown.