TIBETAN PARTEIDGE 239 



up to 4,000 feet elevation, laying usually amongst stones, with a 

 little dry grass for a nest ; eggs may be found as late as June, 

 but generally some weeks earlier. The eggs are spotless cream 

 colour, often nearly white, and the chicks when hatched are 

 covered with creamy-buff down, and not striped as in the majority 

 of young game birds ; in fact, this species does pretty well 

 conform throughout to the much overworked theory of protective 

 coloration; and, indeed, as it is small and weak, and has not 

 the powers of flight of the sand-grouse, one can see in its case 

 why invisibility needs to be its main resource. It is found by 

 some to be remarkably good eating; though Hume considered 

 it inferior to a good chukor, and not of high quality. Outside 

 India it ranges, if the country be dry enough, west to Persia, and 

 a so-called species with but trifling distinctions {Ammoperdix 

 heyi) is found on the confines of the Ked Sea and Persian Gulf ; 

 but only these two, if they really are two, represent the particular 

 type. 



Tibetan Partridge. 



Perdix hodgsonice. Sakpha, Tibetan. 



Considering that our home grey partridge is generally 

 speaking a lover of rich cultivated land, it is very surprising to 

 find that the only one of our Indian partridges which can claim 

 a close relationship with it is only to be looked for in the highest 

 and most desolate parts of the Himalayas ; though it is true 

 that the first Indian specimen was shot on chukor ground in 

 fields in the Bhagirathi. From chukor the present bird may be 

 distinguished quite easily, according to Hume, who shot them on 

 one of the high passes leading from the Indus to the Pangong 

 lake. He noticed, he says, that " their whirring rise and flight 

 were precisely those of the European bird and very different from 

 that of the chukor." He was also led to search for them by 

 hearing their calls, the remarkable similarity of which to that of 

 the English partridge attracted his attention. 



This similarity extends to the plumage taken as a whole, but 

 there are plenty of differences in detail ; most to be noticed is the 

 white face and throat with well-marked black patch on each side. 



