° 
224 GALLIFORMES CHAP. 
you break these eggs you cause the death of your father, if you 
spare them that of your mother !' 
The genus Perdix contains the Common Partridge (P. cinerea), 
so valuable for purposes of food and sport, of which it is need- 
less to describe the plumage; yet attention may be drawn to the 
dark chestnut horse-shoe mark on the grey breast, nearly obsolete 
in most adult females, and the broad ruddy bars on the sides 
and flanks. The hen may be invariably distinguished by wide- 
set buff bands on the black scapulars and adjoining wing-coverts, 
which in the cock are light brown with black vermiculations 
and chestnut blotches. The latter sex, moreover, has grey 
instead of brown sides to the neck.? Great variation is notice- 
able in the coloration, specimens from dry soils exhibiting the 
richest hues, while some are occasionally obtained with a white 
“horse-shoe ” mark, and a particularly dark variety has even been 
denominated Perdia montana. Hybrids are recorded with the 
Red-Legged Partridge and Red Grouse, but such are quite excep- 
tional. Unknown in Shetland, the Partridge has been introduced 
with moderate success into the Outer Hebrides and Orkneys; but 
in the Highlands of Scotland the character of the country is often 
unsuitable, nor is the bird very plentiful in Ireland. From 
Scandinavia it occurs southward to the Douro valley and Naples, 
though rarer in Northern Europe, and choosing higher ground 
than the Red-legged species in the south; eastward it reaches 
through Asia Minor and Persia as far as the Altai Mountains. 
Pairing even in February, it does not nest until about April, the 
numbers of individuals reared being naturally much affected by 
subsequent excess of wet or drought. The better the cultiva- 
tion the larger the stock, though grassy heaths, gorse-coverts, 
tangled hedge-rows and thickets also provide excellent harbour. 
Very rarely do Partridges desert the open for woods, or perch in 
trees, though during the hot hours they shelter in fields of 
turnips, clover, and so forth, emerging at other times to feed on 
the grain, seeds, leaves, and insects found among short vegetation 
or stubble. Cover is naturally eschewed when wet. They often 
trust to their powers of foot for escape, or crouch motionless 
upon soil that matches their plumage, while the whirring noise 
with which they rise is familiar to all, as is their heavy rapid 
1 Grandidier, Histoire de Madagascar, xii., Paris, 1879, pp. 489, 490. 
2 Cf. Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus, xxii. 1893, p. 188. 
