RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE 



17 



Strictly speaking, of course, neither the pheasant nor the present species 

 has the sh'ghtest right to be included in the British fauna, but as it is 

 customary to regard them as members of the same, it is not desirable 

 that they should be omitted from this volume. 



The red-legged partridge is a member of a genus typified by the 

 rock-partridge {C. saxatilis) of the Alps and other mountains of the south 

 of Europe, but better known, perhaps, by the chukor {C. c/ntkar) so familiar 

 to sportsmen inthe Himalaya. 

 The range of the genus in- 

 cludes a considerable propor- 

 tion of central and southern 

 Europe, western and the 

 warmer parts of Central Asia, 

 and north Africa. From 

 the true partridges these 

 birds differ by their peculiar 

 type of plumage, showing 

 a conspicuous gorget and 

 barred flanks, the presence 

 of only fourteen tail-feathers, 

 and the arming of the legs 

 with spurs or tubercles. 



The hens are distinguish- 

 able externally from the 

 cocks only by their slightly 

 smaller size, duller colouring, 

 and the absence of spur- 

 like knobs on the legs ; but 

 young birds in first plumage 



differ conspicuously from the adults, and resemble partridges of the 

 same age especially on the wings and scapulars, being brown-spotted 

 and streaked with buff and black, and with white shafts to the wing- 

 coverts. Young red-legs may, however, be distinguished from young 

 partridges by the broad stripe of huffish white above the eye. The 

 barred flight-quills are retained till after the assumption of the adult 

 dress, which frequently leads to the supposition that the birds so 

 marked are hybrids between the red-legged and common partridges. 

 The chick is buff, with the crown of the head liver-coloured, a pale buff 

 stripe above the eye, and a brownish-chestnut stripe down the back. 



To record the range of this bird ' in the country of which it has 

 become a colonist will be unnecessary ; and it will suffice to mention 



c 



KEU-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 



