JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 35 



or chestnut, and central lines of pale Iniff ; the tail short, carried 

 low like a Quail's, 1)right reddish l)rown ; the flight feathers 

 brownish, the primaries still darker, and all cross-barred with irregu- 

 lar bands of ochraceous, black-margined ; the upper breast bluish 

 ash, growing lighter below, and brownish on the flanks, where the 

 feathers show a broad band of chestnut near the tips, and are crossed 

 by fine vermiculations of darker color, sometimes unbroken lines, 

 but oftener their mere suggestions made up of small dots ; a chest- 

 nut "shield," or "horse-shoe," of considerable size in the middle of 

 the lower breast; under tail coverts, light yellowish brown, very 

 faintU^ and finely barred ; feet and legs, brownish flesh color ; bill, 

 gray-blue ; eyelids, gray-blue or pale flesh color ; iris, brown or red- 

 brown ; naked patch just behind the eye of light orange. 



"The dark chestnut 'horse-shoe' on the gray breast is nearly 

 obsolete in most adult females ; female invariably distinguished by 

 widest buff bands on black scapulars and adjoining wing coverts, 

 which in cock are light brown with black vermiculations and chest- 

 nut blotches. The latter sex, moreover, has gray instead of brown 

 sides to the neck." {Ogilvie Grant.) 



There are great variations in coloring. Specimens from dry soil 

 are said to exhiint the richest hues, while some are occasionally 

 taken showing white "horse shoe." A particularly dark variety 

 has been denominated montana. There are even records of hybrids 

 between this species and the red-legged Partridge, and also with the 

 Scotch Grouse. 



East of the Altai and Tian Shan this species is replaced by the 

 allied Perdix daurica (barbata), which has lanceolate feathers on the 

 side of the throat and a black "horse-shoe" on a golden-buff l)reast. 

 Other species in vSouth Tibet, North India, Northwest China, and 

 North Tibet. These last are more hardy, ascending the mountains 

 to the snow line. 



The Gray Partridge pairs in February and nests in April, and 

 success in raising the brood depends much on excess of wet or 

 drought. The nest is made upon the ground, a circular cavity, 



