PERDIX CINEREA. 555 



Gem**— PERDIX. (Lath.) 



The Partridge. 



This genus was first established by Latham, who separated it 

 from the genus Tetrao of Linnaeus. Most of the species are 

 natives of temperate or warm climates — instead of cold and 

 bleak, like the ptarmigans — and inhabit cultivated countries, 

 living on grain, seeds, roots, and insects ; bill short, strong, and 

 naked at the base ; tarsi also bare ; wings, short and concave, 

 the three first quills shorter than the fourth and fifth. We have 

 two species in Britain, but as far as I know, only one — the 

 common grey partridge — in Fife. 



The Common or Grey Partridge. 



Perdix Oinerea. (Lath.) Tetrao Perdix. (Linn.) 



"Rejoice, ye birring paitricks a' ; 

 Ye cootie* moor-cocks, crousely craw ; 

 Ye mawkins, cock your fud fu' braw, 



Withouten dread ; 

 Your mortal fae is now awa' — 



Tarn Samson's deid." — Burns. 



This bird is too well known to require a long description. It 

 is plentiful in all the cultivated parts of Britain, but rare in 

 the mountainous, moory wastes which are the home of the 

 grouse and ptarmigan ; cultivation — a foe to them — being a 

 friend to the partridge. They pair in February, and generally 

 have their eggs in April and May — the young able to fly in the 

 first of June. I have seen young coveys in the middle of 

 June ; but there is no hard and fast time for breeding, for 

 " on going over his fields on January 6th, 1884, the farmer of 

 Powside, Methven, got a nest with twelve eggs f but my note 

 says, " An unseasonably mild winter ; little frost and no snow." 

 Unlike the black cock — although the male takes no part in the 

 incubation — he remains near, and, like the ptarmigan, takes a 

 keen interest in the young. The nest is scanty — amongst long 

 grass, or under a branch, bush, or a hedge root — in fact anywhere, 



* Feather-legged. 



