14 



GAME-BIRDS 



so the partridge is as essentially a denizen of the fallow field or the 

 open sandy heath, and such special ornamentation and decoration as 

 the male has developed arc therefore of a subdued and chastened type, 

 not in the least likely to attract the attention of enemies when the bird 

 is squatting or running. In most or all works on British birds this 

 species is designated the common partridge, but such a prefix, as in 

 many analogous instances, is to a great extent superfluous and 

 unnecessary, as the name partridge properly belongs solely to the 

 bird under consideration. By the great Swedish naturalist Linn.tus 

 the partridge was named Tetrao perdix\ but it was subsequently found 



inadvisable to use the 

 name Tett-ao in such a 

 wide sense, and the par- 

 tridge was accordingly 

 made the type of a genus 

 by itself, with the title 

 Perdix cincj-ea, the Lin- 

 nctan name thus being 

 raised to a higher grade. 

 I-'or generations this 

 usage was followed, but 

 of late years it has been 

 attempted to rule that 

 what was once the 

 species - name must al- 

 ways remain the species- 

 name, and the partridge 

 has consequently been re-christened Perdix perdix, with the still more 

 pedantic title oi Perdix perdix perdix for the typical Scandinavian birtl. 

 Nowadays, of course, no one would think of using a species-name 

 otherwise than in its original sense, but as our predecessors thought 

 themselves justified in departing from this practice in certain cases, it 

 is difficult to see how we are justified in saying they were acting ultra 

 vires. Be this as it may, the readers to whom the present book will 

 appeal will, we venture to think, for the most part i)refer the con- 

 servative practice of calling the partridge Perdix cinerea rather than 

 by the designation referred to above. A similar practice will be 

 adopted in the case of all other British birds in which the Linniuan 

 species-name has been elevated to generic rank. 



The partridge, then, is the type of a genus which differs from the 

 pheasants, among other features, by the relative shortness of the tail, 



HOUNTCD IN THC ROWLAND 



I'AKTKIDGK. 



