262 BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



PARTRIDGE, COMMON. 



(Perdix cinerea.) 

 Order GALLING ; Family PHASIANID^: (PHEASANTS). 



Description of Parent 

 Birds. Length about 

 twelve and a half or 

 thirteen inches. Beak 

 short, curved downwards, 

 and bluish-grey. Irides 

 hazel. Forehead and 

 cheeks bright rust-colour ; 

 behind the eye is a patch 

 of naked red skin ; crown, 



COMMON PARTR.DGE. ^^ Qf ^ ^^ ^ 



shoulders, cinereous-brown ; lower back and wing- 

 coverts mottled with two shades of reddish- 

 brown on a pale buff ground, the central line 

 of each feather being pale buff, unmarked. 

 Wing-quills brown, barred with pale buff. Tail- 

 coverts and two centre quills brown, barred with 

 rusty-red, remaining tail-feathers rusty-red ; chin 

 and throat bright rust-colour ; neck, breast, and 

 sides bluish-grey, freckled with a darker tinge of 

 the same colour, marked on the breast with a 

 horseshoe of rich bay, and barred on the sides with 

 the same colour ; under tail-coverts pale rusty- 

 brown. Legs and toes bluish-grey ; claws black. 

 The female is a trifle smaller than the male, 

 and the rust-colour on her head is neither so exten- 

 sive nor so bright, and the lesser and medium 

 wing-coverts and scapulars are marked with buff 

 cross-bars, a feminine distinction first observed by 

 Mr. Ogilvie Grant. 



