PAiirniDGES. 



201 



rocky 'jrrouiul and ravines, arc very gentle, and feed on seeds and such herbage as 

 grows in the localities they inhabit. One species, A. honluuni, is found in India, 

 Afghanistan, Persia, and Beluchistan, while the other, A. keyi, is a native of western 

 Arabia, the Sinaitic Peninsula, Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine. A partridge from west 

 Africa, of a general earthen-brown plumage, closely allied to the birds of the genera 

 Perdix and Amtnoperdix, has been separated by Swainson as a sub-genus, and called 

 Ptilopachus vcntralis. Tiie two lateral toes are nearly equal in length ; the tail is 

 much developed, and the nostrils occujiy almost one half tlie length of the mandible. 

 The shafts of the feathers on the back and rump are thickened as in the pigeons. 

 The single species is the only representative of the genus. 





\yi 











'■"' 



Fio. S6.— Vaccabis rubra, rcd-legged partridge. 



Tliirteen or fourteen species are included in the genus Ahorophihi, or hill-par- 

 tridges, the greater portion (nine) being found in India and Iiurmah and the Malay 

 Peninsula, two are found in Java, one in Sumatra, one in the island of Formosa, iind 

 one in the Pliilippines. They are forest-loving birds, live in mountainous districts in 

 the densest thickets, go in covevs, and have a whistling call. The se.ves differ slightly 

 in plumage. The Formosan bird has been separated under the generic title, Oreo- 

 perdii, and li.as a bare, brigiit-red throat in the breeding season. 



The red-legged partridges, together with the species of AiiimojKrdix, have been con- 

 .•iidered by some writers as worthy of constituting a sul>-family of the Perdicida?, but 

 while perhaps not quite entitled to that distinction, they do nevertheless form a well- 

 marked group. The species have a wide range and are spread over temperate Europe, 



