CACCABIS RUBRA. 137 
being in great numbers there. Sometimes they may be seen 
sitting on the stones within a few feet of the sea. A pair or 
two used always to frequent the rocks below the " rope ladder " 
at Europa. Although protected from guns and carefully pre- 
served from the attacks of human beings^ they suffer con- 
siderably from the number of cats which abound, and are also 
preyed on by G-enets and Eagles, the Lizards and Snakes de- 
stroying the eggs and young. 
This bird, like other Partridges, is very noisy at dusk ; in 
the nesting- season they have a peculiar long-drawn croaking 
cry, which puzzled me for a long time before I could make 
out from what bird it came. Whether the male only thus calls 
I do not know ; but I suspect such to be the case. 
The Barbary Partridge commences to lay about the loth 
of April. The eggs are very similar to those of C. rubra, and 
vary much in the markings, some being quite free from the 
usual small freckles. 
The Rev. John White mentions this Partridge as being 
plentiful at Gibraltar about 1770, and not being found on the 
mainland of Spain. 
This species is at once distinguished by the chestnut collar 
round the neck, studded with small white spots, and is also a 
smaller bird than the common Red-leg, besides having a 
metallic blue tinge on the wing-coverts. The legs are not 
always red, sometimes being a pale buff colour. 
197. Caccabis rubra, Linn. The Common Red-legged or 
French Partridge. 
Spanish. Perdiz. 
This Partridge is, throughout Andalucia, plentiful and resi- 
dent, frequenting the monte or scrub, not, as in some parts of 
England, being found in cultivated places. Never known to 
occur on the African side of the Straits, it is not even found 
on the Rock of Gibraltar, which would seem rather strange, 
as it is to be seen on the Queen of Spain's Chair, and occa- 
sionally on the plain below within a couple of miles of the 
neutral ground. 
Almost every Spanish sportsman, or cazador, keeps one or 
