342 TETRAONID.E. 



bars of wood-brown ; the riiinp and upper tail-coverts, some 

 of which are long, freckled with two shades of brown, and 

 barred transversely with chestnut ; tail-feathers uniform red- 

 dish chestnut. The neck and upper part of the breast, the 

 sides, and flanks, light bluish grey, minutely freckled with 

 dark grey ; lower breast with a rich chestnut-coloured horse- 

 shoe-shaped patch on a ground of white ; sides and flanks 

 barred with chestnut ; thighs greyish white ; under tail- 

 coverts yellowish brown ; the legs and toes bluish white ; the 

 claws brown. 



The whole length of the male bird twelve inches and a 

 half. The wing in form rounded. The length from the 

 carpal joint to the end six inches ; the first feather about as 

 long as the sixth ; the second equal to the fifth ; and all of 

 them shorter than the third and fourth, which are the longest 

 in the wing. 



The female is generally a little smaller than the male ; the 

 light chestnut-coloured patch round the beak is lighter in 

 colour, and smaller in size, than in the male, not extending 

 farther back over the sides of the neck than a line falling per- 

 pendicularly from the eye ; the grey feathers of the lower part 

 of the sides of the neck are more mixed with brown ; the 

 lower breast is white, not assuming the dark chestnut patch 

 till the second or third year ; the chestnut bars on the flanks 

 are broader. 



Young birds before their first autumn moult have no red 

 mark behind the eye ; the general plumage is of a uniform 

 brownish yellow, barred and streaked with darker brown ; the 

 legs and toes yellowish clay brown. During the two first 

 months of our shooting-season, the young Partridges may be 

 found in every stage of moult. 



Varieties of the Partridge in colour are very common, 

 some exhibiting only patches of white ; others are wholly 

 white ; and cream-coloured, or very pale buflf-coloured varie- 

 ties are also common. 



