223 THE COMMON PARTRIDGE 
as being less likely to attract the notice either of poachers or vermin. 
Indeed, were she always to lie close, her nest would not be easily 
discovered, for the colour of her feathers so closely resembles that of 
withered leaves, that she is, when sitting, less conspicuous than her 
uncovered eggs would be. 
Common Pheasants are occasionally found having a large portion. 
or even the whole, of their plumage white. These, though highly 
ornamental when mixed with the common sort, are not prized, 
owing to their being a more conspicuous mark for poachers. The 
‘Ringed Pheasant’ occasionally shot in English preserves is not, 
as some maintain, a distinct species; it differs from the typical 
form of the bird only in that the neck is partially surrounded by a 
narrow white collar passing from the back of the neck to the sides, 
but not meeting in front. 
THE COMMON PARTRIDGE. 
PERDIX CINEREA 
Face, eyebrows, and throat, bright rust-red ; behind the eye a naked red skin ; 
neck, breast, and flanks, ash colour with black zigzag lines, and on the 
feathers of the flanks a large rust-red spot ; low on the breast a chestnut 
patch shaped like a horseshoe; upper parts ash-brown with black spots 
and zigzag lines; scapulars and wing-coverts darker; quills brown, 
barred and spotted with yellowish red; tail of eighteen feathers, the 
laterals bright rust-red; beak olive-brown; feet grey. Female—less 
red on the face; head spotted with white; upper plumage darker, 
spotted with black ; the horseshoe mark indistinct or wanting. Length 
thirteen inches. Eggs uniform olive-brown. 
VERY few, even of our common birds, are more generally known 
than the Partridge. From the first of September to the first of Febru- 
ary, in large towns, every poulterer’s shop is pretty sure to be de- 
corated with a goodly array of these birds ; and there are few rural 
districts in which a walk through the fields will fail to be enlivened 
by the sudden rising and whirring away of a covey of Partridges, 
in autumn and winter; of a pair in spring. At midsummer they 
are of less frequent appearance, the female being too busily 
occupied, either in incubation or the training of her family, to find 
time for flight ; and at this season, moreover, the uncut fields of 
hay, clover, and corn afford facilities for the avoiding of danger, by 
concealment rather than by flight. The habits of the Partridge, 
as of the Grouse, are especially terrestrial. It never flies, like the 
Lark, for enjoyment ; and as it does not perch in trees it has 
no occasion for upward flight. Still, there are occasions when 
Partridges rise to a considerable distance from the ground, and this 
seems to be when they meditate a longer flight than usual. 
A friend, to whom I am indebted for many valuable notes on” 
various birds, tells me that when a covey of Partridges are disturbed 
