TnE red-legged partridges, 97 



for this reason these birds afford capital sport when driven ; 

 but if shot over dogs or walked up in cover their cursorial 

 habits are alike detestable to Man and Dog, for the Red-legs 

 not only seldom rise themselves till they are at the other end 

 of the field and probably far out of shot, but disturb and put up 

 any coveys of Grey Partridges they may chance to pass on their 

 course. They are very partial to hedgerows or the edges of 

 plantations and long grass or rushes, and when flushed, occa- 

 sionally perch on a neighbouring tree, which the Grey Partridge, 

 so far as we are aware, never does. In the pairing-season the 

 Red-legs are very pugnacious, fighting fiercely not only with 

 the males of their own kind, but also with those of the Grey 

 Partridge, which, being much smaller birds, are in most cases 

 driven from the field. Eggs of the latter species, as well as 

 those of the Common Pheasant, are sometimes found in the 

 nests of C. rufa, and are doubtless laid there by the females 

 instead of in their own nest, an irregular habit by no means 

 rare among Game-Birds. 



Nest. — A hollow scratched in the ground under the shelter 

 of a hedge, tall grass, or growing crops. 



Eggs. — Ten to eighteen in number, and sometimes more. 

 Like those of C. saxatilis and C. chukar, pale stone-colour 

 or buff, more or less thickly dotted and spotted, and sometimes 

 blotched with dark reddish-brown. Average measurements, 

 1*55 by 1 '2 inch. 



IV. BARBARY RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. CACCABIS PETROSA. 



Tetrao petrosus, Gm. S. N. i. pt. ii. p. 758 (1788). 



Perdix petrosa, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 648 (1790); Gould, B. 



Europe, iv. pi. 261, fig. 1 (1837). 

 Perdix barbara, Bonn. Tabl. Encycl. Me'th. i. p. 208, pi. 94, 



fig. 2 (I79 1 )- 

 Caccabis petrosa, Dresser, B. Europe, vii. p. in, pi. 471, fig. 2 



(1875); Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxii. p. 120 



(1893). 

 9 " 



