172 AVES RASORES. [PERDIX. 



with the Common Ptarmigan. In Great Britain, it has hitherto only 

 occurred once. This specimen was killed in Perthshire in Scotland, 

 and is now in the collection of Lord Derby. Is said to frequent dry 

 rocky grounds, and to feed on the tops of small birch. Hatches in June. 



GEN. 59. PERDIX, Briss. 

 (1. PERDIX, Steph.) 



153. P. cinerea, Briss. (Common Partridge.) Upper 

 parts cinereous, variegated with brown and black ; a deep 

 chestnut crescent-shaped spot on the breast. 



P. cinerea, Temm. Man. d'Orn. torn. n. p. 488. Id. Pig. et Gall. 

 torn. in. pp. 373, & 728. Common Partridge, Mont. Orn. Diet. 

 Selb. Illust. vol. i. p. 433. pi. 61. Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 348. 



DIMENS. Entire length thirteen inches : length of the bill (from the 

 forehead) seven lines and a half, (from the gape) eleven lines; of the 

 tarsus one inch nine lines ; of the tail three inches four lines ; from the 

 carpus to the end of the wing six inches two lines: breadth, wings 

 extended, twenty inches six lines. 



DESCRIPT. (Male.) Sides of the face, throat, and eyebrows, bright 

 rust-colour : behind the eye a naked red skin : neck and breast bluish 

 gray with fine zigzag black lines ; on the lower part of the breast a large 

 patch of deep chestnut-brown in the shape of a horse-shoe ; flanks cine- 

 reous, with undulating black lines, and a large rust-coloured bar towards 

 the tip of each feather: back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, cinereous 

 brown, with transverse zigzag black lines and a few narrow bars of reddish 

 brown ; scapulars and wing-coverts of a deeper hue than the back, with 

 the shafts of the feathers yellowish white ; quills blackish gray, spotted 

 and barred with pale yellowish red : tail of eighteen feathers ; the four 

 middle ones marked like the back ; the others bright rust-colour : bill 

 and feet bluish gray : irides hazel. (Female.) Less of the rust-coloured 

 tinge on the head and throat ; feathers on the crown of the head spotted 

 with white : upper plumage generally darker, with a greater number of 

 black bars and spots : the horse-shoe mark on the breast very indistinct, 

 or altogether wanting. White and pied varieties are occasionally met 

 with. (Egg.) Of a uniform olive-brown : long. diam. one inch five lines ; 

 trans, diam. one inch and half a line. 



Abundant in all the cultivated parts of Great Britain, but seldom 

 found at a distance from arable land, which is its favourite haunt. Feeds 

 on seeds and insects, and especially on the pupae of ants. Pairs in 

 February, and commences laying about the middle or end of May. 

 Eggs twelve to twenty in number, deposited on the ground, amongst 

 brush-wood and long grass, or in fields of clover and standing corn. 

 Period of incubation three weeks. After the young are hatched, they 

 flock together in coveys till the following Spring. 



* 154. P. rubra, Briss. (Red-legged Partridge.) Upper parts 

 reddish ash: throat and cheeks white; bounded by a collar of black, 

 expanding on the breast, and spotted with white. 



P. rubra, Temm. Man. d'Orn. tom.n. p. 485. Id. Pig. et Gall. torn. in. pp.361, 

 and 726. Guernsey Partridge, Mont. Orn. Diet. Lewin, Brit. Birds, vol.iv. 

 pi. 137. Red-legged Partridge, Bew. Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 345. 



