2 24 GALLIFORMES chap. 



you break these eggs you cause the death of your father, if you 

 spare them that of your mother ! ^ 



The genus Perdix contains the Common Partridge (P. cinerea), 

 so valuable for purposes of food and sport, of which it is need- 

 less to describe the plumage ; yet attention may be drawn to the 

 dark chestnut horse-shoe mark on the grey breast, nearly obsolete 

 in most adult females, and the broad ruddy bars on the sides 

 and flanks. The hen may be invariably distinguished by wide- 

 set buff bands on the black scapulars and adjoining wing- coverts, 

 which in the cock are light brown with black vermiculations 

 and chestnut blotches. The latter sex, moreover, has grey 

 instead of brown sides to the neck.^ Great variation is notice- 

 able in the coloration, specimens from dry soils exhibiting the 

 richest hues, while some are occasionally obtained with a white 

 " horse-shoe " mark, and a particularly dark variety has even been 

 denominated Perdix montana. Hybrids are recorded with the 

 Eed-Legged Partridge and Eed Gi'ouse, but such are quite excep- 

 tional. Unknown in Shetland, the Partridge has been introduced 

 with moderate success into the Outer Hebrides and Orkneys ; but 

 in the Highlands of Scotland the character of the country is often 

 unsuitable, nor is the bird very plentiful in Ireland. From 

 Scandinavia it occurs southward to the Douro valley and Naples, 

 though rarer in Northern Europe, and choosing higher ground 

 than the Eed-legged species in the south ; eastward it reaches 

 throuo;h Asia Minor and Persia as far as the Altai Mountains. 

 Pairing even in February, it does not nest until about April, the 

 numbers of individuals reared being naturally much affected by 

 subsequent excess of wet or drought. The better the cultiva- 

 tion the larger the stock, though grassy heaths, gorse-coverts, 

 tangled hedge-rows and thickets also provide excellent harbour. 

 Very rarely do Partridges desert the open for woods, or perch in 

 trees, though during the hot hours they shelter in fields of 

 turnips, clover, and so forth, emerging at other times to feed on 

 the grain, seeds, leaves, and insects found among short vegetation 

 or stubble. Cover is naturally eschewed when wet. They often 

 trust to their powers of foot for escape, or crouch motionless 

 upon soil that matches their plumage, while the whirring noise 

 with which they rise is familiar to all, as is their heavy rapid 



^ Grandidier, Histoire de Madagascar, xii., Paris, 1879, pp. 489, 490. 

 - Cf. Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxii. 1893, p. 188. 



