278 SKETCHES OF EUROPEAN OANITHOLOOY. 



First quill -feather very short ; fourth and fifth longest. Tail long, 

 graduated; its two middle feathers projecting beyond the rest. 

 The " saucy madge" constitutes, at present, the only European spe- 

 cies of the new genus. The specific designation, caudata, is, obvi- 

 ously inapposite ; as all the exotic congeners of our favourite Pie, 

 we presume, sport tails. Melanoleuca will be also, probably, ob- 

 jected to, by the more fastidious reformer, on the score of its Greek 

 origin. Why, then, not substitute for it an equally expressive and 

 more appropriate epithet derived from the Latin, — Pica nigro-alha, 

 or nigralba, the black and white Pie. 



Plate X. — Comprehends two figures representing different spe- 

 cies of the Red-legged Partridge. These, with the Guernsey Par- 

 tridge, Perdix rvfa, and another nearly-allied species from the Hi- 

 malaya mountains, present, in Mr. Gould's opinion, sufficient dif- 

 ferences of character to justify their separation from the Linnean 

 genus Perdix, — of which our common P. cinerea affords a familiar 

 illustration, — and the consequent institution of a new genus. In 

 this view of the subject, we are disposed to concur ; and would re- 

 commend the adoption of the very apposite term Rufipes, or Redfoot, 

 — see page 206 of our present number, — as designative of this newly 

 established and beautiful household of the distinguished family of 

 the Rasores. 



The Jirst figure in the plate is the Barbary Partridge, — P. petro- 

 sa, Latham, — P. rubra Barbaricttj 3nssoii, — Tetrao petrosus, Gme- 

 lin, — Perdrix Gambra, la P. rouge de Barbarie, Fr.j — Feldhuhn 

 aus Barbarey, G. This bird, resembling, in its habits, the Guern- 

 sey Partridge, inhabits not only, as its popular designation indicates, 

 the coast of Barbary, but the European shores, and the islands, of 

 the Mediterranean Sea. It is specifically distinguished from its 

 congeners by the deep-chestnut stripe which, commencing at the 

 root of the bill, passes over the crown of the head to the nape ; and 

 by a rttfous-brown collar which, thickly spoiled with white pointst 

 surrounds the neck. Hence, its proper designation would obviously 

 be the collared Redfoot, — Rufipes torquata. 



The Greek Partridge, — P. saxatilis, Meyer, — P. Graeca, Bris- 

 son, — Perdrix Bartavelle, Fr., — Pernice maggiore. It., — das Stein- 

 feld Huhn, G., — forms the elegant subject of the second figure. It 



