THE TRUE PARTRIDGES. 149 



get driven down in winter to the plains and valleys in search 

 of food. The fact is, however, that very little is known about 

 this migratory form; and, although its existence has been well- 

 known for more than a century, very few examples have been 

 obtained, and in none of those which have come under our 

 notice have the colour of the feet and toes been recorded 

 while the birds \nqxq s fill fresh. In all the examples we have 

 examined, the feet certainly have the appearance of having 

 been yellow or yellowish horn -colour, but all these are birds of 

 the year, as may at once be seen by the pointed first primary 

 quill. 



In many parts of Scotland we have met with Partridges 

 breeding on the lower moorland, and it is by no means uncom- 

 mon to fall in with an isolated covey or two of these birds on 

 the edges of a Grouse moor. Such " hill-birds " are, as a rule, 

 smaller and more brightly coloured than the low-ground birds, 

 and, when handled, seem to be about half the size of specimens 

 from the southern counties of England. When measured, the 

 differences in the length of the wing are comparatively trifling, 

 but the average weight of the hill-birds is considerably less. 



II. THE BEARDED PARTRIDGE. PERDIX DAURICA. 



Tetrao perdix, var. dauurica^ Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-As. ii. p. 78 



(181 1). 



Perdix {Starna) chierea, var. rupesfris daniirica, Radde, Reise 



Ost-Sib. ii. p. 304, pi. xii. (1863). 

 Perdix barbaia, Verr. and Desm. P. Z. S. 1863, p. 62, pi. ix. ; 



Gould, B. Asia, vi. pi. 73 (187 1); Prjev. in Rowley's 



Orn. Misc. ii. p. 422 (1877). 

 Perdix daurica, Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 193 



(1893). 



Adult Male. — General appearance of P. perdix, but paler and 



greyer, and easily distinguished by having the feathers on the 



sides of the chin and throat considerably elongated, with dark 



shafts, forming a beard ; the middle of the breast bright buff ; 



