104 THE GAME BIRDS 
the female is smaller and of a brown color. 
The tail, normally of 18 feathers, is rounded, 
and bears a band of black near the tip. There 
are three varieties, due to climatic agencies, 
and they grade into each other insensibly. 
Bill and legs light brown. Eyes brown. 
Length 16 to 20 inches. Extent 23 to 25 
inches. Weight 14 to 2 lbs. I have heard 
of ‘“ King-partridges” as large as a turkey, 
but never saw one: and a 2-pound bird is a 
big one. 
The birds inhabit the greater portion of 
civilized North America, except the South- 
west, and, except where seldom hunted, are, 
taken all in all, the most noble game bird of 
which this country boasts. I have seen these 
birds flush from the ground and settle upon 
a tree not over 200 feet away, and eye me as 
curiously as if I was a dime museum freak, 
and I have been threatened with condign 
punishment by correspondents in the North 
and West for the above remark. But if any 
of these friends will have a try at these birds 
here in our Eastern States, I will wager that 
they change their minds. ‘The sportsman 
who brings in a good bag of these birds here 
is Wor thy of a place in the front ranks of the 
euild. It is warier, and filled fuller of strat- 
egy, pound for pound, than any lying bird on 
our soil. 
Like nearly all gallinaceous birds, the male 
has the habit of strutting during the sexual 
period, which is accompanied by various 
