146 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



varies from 3 lbs. to 3h lbs., a hen about 2^ lbs. ; but 

 birds fattened on maize have been found to weigh 

 upwards of 5 lbs. 



PARTRIDGE. Perdix cinerea, Latham. PI. 18, fi^. 1. 

 Length, 12-5 in. ; wing, 6 in. ; tarsus, 1-5 in. 



Resident, and generally distributed. The pro- 

 tective efforts of game - preservers and the now 

 prevalent practice of Partridge "driving," by killing 

 off the old cocks which lead the coveys, have con- 

 tributed greatly to the increase of this species, 

 especially in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. 

 St. John characterised November as " the season in 

 Scotland at which Partridges migrate from the high 

 grounds to the cultivated fields " (" Tour in Suther- 

 land," ii. p. 44) ; and elsewhere they are reported to 

 be to some extent migratory {ZooL, 1893, p. 433, 

 and 1894, p. 18). 



The "horse-shoe" mark on the breast is not a 

 distinctive character of the cock bird. The sexes 

 are otherwise distinguishable. An old cock Part- 

 ridge has the sides of the neck grey, the hen has the 

 same feathers olive-brown with longitudinal buff 

 stripes, while the median upper wing coverts, which 

 in the cock are sandy-brown with transverse chestnut 

 and black lines, are in the hen dark brown with buff 

 cross-bars. Old birds have the first-flight feather 

 rounded and the legs grey ; in young birds the 

 first-flight feather is pointed and the legs olive. 



Albino Partridges are occasionally reported ; 

 four in one covey (Col. Hamilton, " Reminiscences 



