66 A BOOK OF BIRDS 



of the back- and tail-coverts. The true tail is not larger than that 

 of the hen, and is similarly coloured. And thus it is that, when the 

 train is erected and spread, only the head and neck are apparent 

 when the bird is facing the spectator. This fact is invariably lost 

 sight of by artists, who always draw the train as though it were a 

 tail. 



The nearly related Javan Peacock differs from the Common Pea- 

 cock chiefly in having the neck-feathers of enormous size, so that 

 the neck has almost the appearance of being clothed in large, over- 

 lapping scales, thereby contrasting with the softer feathers of the 

 more familiar bird. 



The Partridges and Quails, between which and the Pheasant tribe 

 there is no very sharp limit, must now be described. 



The best known of the Partridge tribe is the Common Partridge 

 (Plate XII. fig. 5). This bird is also sometimes called the '* Horse- 

 shoe " Partridge, from the presence of a horse-shoe-like band of 

 feathers on the breast, supposed by many to be the distinctive mark 

 of the male ; but this is not so, since this mark appears in both sexes. 

 The female can always be distinguished by the buff cross-bars on the 

 smaller wing-coverts. The Common Partridge occurs also in Europe. 

 In Eastern Siberia it is replaced by the " Bearded Partridge," which 

 differs from the kind met with in Great Britain chiefly in the long, 

 beard-like feathers of the throat. 



The ** Red-legged " Partridges belong to a different group of the 

 Partridge tribe, and are remarkable not only for the red colour of 

 the legs, from which they take their name, but also for the beautiful 

 barring of red, black, and lilac-grey of the feathers of the flanks. 



In Great Britain but one species occurs — the Common Red- 

 legged Partridge — which ranges over South-western and Western 

 Europe. 



The Rock Red-legged Partridge (Plate XII. fig. 7) is a native of 

 the mountains of Southern Europe, from the Pyrenees to the Balkans, 

 and differs from our British bird chiefly in the absence of white in 

 the barring of the flanks and of black spots on the chest. 



The Quails may very well be described as miniature Partridges. 

 The best-known species is the Common Quail (Plate XII. fig. 4) — a 

 bird which occurs occasionally in Great Britain. It is found also 



