218 



PERDIX CINEREA. THE GREY PARTRIDGE. 



COMMON PARTRIDGE. CEARC-THOMAIN. 



Tetrao Perdix. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 276. 



Perdix cinerea. Lath. Ind. Orn. II. 645. 



Common Partridge. Mont. Orn. Diet. 



Perdi-ix Grise. Perdix cinerea. Temm. Man. d'Orn. II. 488. 



Common Partridge. Perdix cinerea. Selb. Illustr. I. 433. 



Perdix cinerea. Common Partridge. Jen. Brit. Vert. An. 172. 



Male with the hill and feet greyish-blue ; upper parts miniiteli/ 

 barred icith ash-grey^ yellowish -brown^ brownish -blacky and 

 brownish-red^; scapulars and wing-coverts darker, with longi- 

 tudinal u'hitish streaks ; forehead, cheeks, and throat light red ; 

 neck ash-grey, minutely undulated icith black ; sides broadly 

 handed with brownish-red, of which there is a large patch on the 

 breast. Female similarly coloured, but with the upper parts 

 more brown, their markings larger, the top of the head streaked 

 with yellowish, and the spot on the breast smaller. 



It might be judged unnecessary to describe a bird so common 

 as the Partridge ; and I should not dissent from this opinion, 

 were I not aware that many familiar objects are apt to receive 

 less notice than those which, although not more beautiful, nor 

 of greater utility, are more difficult to be procured, and per- 

 suaded that the species under consideration is as worthy of 

 regard as any other of its family. Though neither elegant in 



