[Case 15.] 
[Case 15.] 
28 BIRD GALLERY. 
Subfamily III. Perdicine. Partridge-like Game-Birds. 
As already mentioned, this subfamily includes the Old-World 
Partridges and Quails, which may be distinguished by the following 
characters:—The cutting-edge of the lower mandible is not serrated 
or provided with a tooth-like process. The first flight-feather is 
longer than or rarely equal to the tenth. In one or two of the species 
of Francolin it is slightly shorter, but these may at once be recognised 
as belonging to the Perdicine by their short tails. 
The most perfect type of Partridge-wing is found in such forms as 
the Snow-Partridge (Lerwa) and the Quails (Coturnix, Synecus, and 
Excalfactoria), in which the first flight-feather is equal to or very 
slightly shorter than the second, and the tenth is much the shortest. 
These, as might be expected, are all birds with great powers of flight. 
Four different species of Partridge (Perdiv) (129-132) are known. 
As considerable interest attaches to the sexual differences in plumage 
of the Common Partridge (P. perdiv) (129), wings of the male and 
female have been exhibited to show the only reliable character for 
distinguishing the sexes except in very young birds. It will be seen 
that the lesser and median wing-coverts of the male are without the buff 
cross-bars so conspicuous on the feathers of the female. Young birds— 
that is to say birds of the year, whether male or female—may always be 
distinguished from old birds by having the first flight-feather pointed at 
the tip instead of rounded. The pointed first flight-feather, being re- 
tained till the following autumn moult, is a better character for denoting 
age than the colour of the feet. In the earlier part of the season the 
feet of young birds are yellowish-brown, but at the commencement of 
the hard weather they become pale bluish-grey like those of the adult. 
A curious rufous variety of the Common Partridge was described by 
Brisson in 1760, under the name Perdix montana (130). That it is 
merely a strongly marked variety is clearly shown by the forms 
exhibited, which show the intermediate stages between the most typical 
rufous bird and the normal plumage. This chestnut phase of plumage, 
which occurs in birds of either sex, was first recorded from the moun- 
tains of Lorraine, where it appears to be fairly numerous. Since 
that date similar examples have been procured from time to time 
in most counties of England, notably in Northumberland, where the 
rufous birds were supposed by some to be hybrids between the Red 
Grouse and Common Partridge. 
The Jungle Bush-Quails (Perdicula) (133) and Painted Bush-Quails 
(Microperdix) (184) together include only five small species peculiar to 
India. They differ from the true Quails in the shape of the wing, the 
first flight-feather being comparatively short. 
