646 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 



PARTRIDGES. (Perdix. Lath.) 



In these birds the bull is entire and bare ; the upper mandible 

 vaulted, and strongly curved towards the point. Nostrils basal, 

 lateral, half closed by a vaulted and naked membrane. Feet naked, 

 fore toes united by a membrane to the first articulation, hind toe 

 less than half the length of the inner ; nails incurved, acute. Head 

 wholly feathered, often with a naked space round the eye. Tail 

 short, rounded, and deflected, consisting of from 12 to 18 close feath- 

 ers. 



Female scarcely smaller, and diifering from the male only by some 

 small essential marks. Young after the first year similar with the 

 adult. The moult annual. 



These birds sedentary in some countries, migrate in others, and 

 are verj- numerous in temperate and warm climates, in every quarter 

 of the world. They live in pairs, and form a conjugal union for life ; 

 when the young are hatched, the male takes them under his charge, 

 and by his cries warns them of any approaching danger, or calls 

 them together when scattered apart ; in this manner they dwell to- 

 gether as one family until the approach of spring. The Quails of the 

 4th section of the genus, are polygamous, and migrate extensively. 

 Most part of the whole genus live in open fields and meadows, seek- 

 ing out the advantage of cultivated districts, in the vicinity of man . 



Subgenus. — COLINIA. (Colins, Buff, Ortyx. StepJi.) 



The bill short, thick, higher than it is wide ; upper mandible curved 

 from the base ; no naked space around the eye. The tarsus destitute 

 of spur or tubercle in both sexes. The wings rounded ; with the 3d 

 and 4th primaries longest. Tail of 12 feathers, longer than the 

 coverts. 



These birds alight on low trees or bushes, sometimes roosting in 

 them, but also dwell much on the ground, both by night and day. 

 Usually monogamous, the male taking charge of and protecting the 

 young, which associate with the old until the time of pairing. — 

 These are peculiar to America, where the other subgenera have no 

 representatives. 



