lOO ALLENS NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Adult Female. — Differs chiefly from the male in having the 

 black and white markings on the head and the barring on the 

 flanks absent. Total length, 9-5 inches ; wing, 4*9 ; tail, 2-3 j 

 tarsus, I* 15. 



Range. — South-western Asia, extending westwards to the 

 Euphrates Valley, eastwards to North-west India, in the north 

 to Transcaspia, and south to Aden. 



HalDits. — This handsome little Partridge is met with at eleva- 

 tions ranging from sea-level to 6,000 or 7,000 feet. They are 

 particularly common in the Salt Range, and Mr. Hume gives us 

 the following account of their habits : "They are eminently birds 

 of bare broken ground ; on grassy slopes they may indeed be 

 found, for they feed much on grass-seeds, but they eschew 

 utterly forests or thickly-wooded tracts, and even where there 

 is much scrub about they are less common— the barer and more 

 desolate the ravines and gorges, the more thoroughly do they 

 seem at home. 



" They are active, bustling little birds, scratching about a 

 ■great deal in the earth, dusting themselves freely in the sand, 

 basking in the sun, resting in little hollows they have worked 

 out for themselves, and generally reproducing in many ways 

 the manners of the Domestic Fowl. 



"Their call, continually heard in the spring, is a clear double 

 note, "Soo-see, soo-see," and they have also, whilst feeding 

 and when surprised, a whistled chirp, uttered very softly when 

 at their ease, but sounding more harshly when they are 

 alarmed. 



" Their food is, I think, chiefly, if not exclusively, grain, seeds, 

 and herbage of different kinds. I have examined many, but 

 have lost my notes in regard to them, and I cannot now re- 

 member whether they are or are not also insectivorous. My 

 impression is that they are not. 



" Although they are pretty shooting, they never afford much 

 sport ; they run a great deal, and over ground across which it 



