PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 43 



red. The sexes are alike, and there is no seasonal change of coloration. (PI. 141.) 

 Length 13'5 in. [331'46 mm.]. The crown is grey, bounded on either side by a con- 

 spicuous white superciliary stripe. A black band runs from the base of the beak 

 to the eye, and thence backwards and downwards to form the boundary of a white 

 throat. The whole of the upper parts, save the crown, are of an earth-brown colour. 

 The fore-neck and fore-breast are rufous spotted with black ; the breast and flanks 

 are pale lavender-grey, the latter barred with chestnut-red, black, and white, while 

 the rest of the under parts are of a rich buff. The bare skin round the eye, the beak, 

 and legs are of a bright coral-red. In the male the legs are armed with one or two 

 pairs of blunt, tumid knobs or spurs. The juvenile plumage differs conspicuously 

 from that of the adult, and bears no resemblance to that of the common-partridge 

 of the same age, striations being conspicuous by their absence. The interscapulars 

 are of a uniform dark, greyish brown, the scapulars greyish brown with a sub- 

 terminal bar of black, and a spot of white at the tip of the shaft. The head and 

 neck are of a dirty buff colour, the fore-breast greyish brown, with a white spot 

 at the tip of each feather. Tail feathers brown mottled with black. The downy 

 nestling may at once be distinguished by the pale chestnut colour of the crown, 

 and the presence of a median and two lateral longitudinal stripes of dull buff, on 

 a background of chestnut mottled with black, [w. p. P.] 



2. Distribution. This is an introduced species in the British Isles, and 

 was first acclimatised in England about 1770 in Suffolk. Since then it has in- 

 creased its range considerably, and is now common in East Anglia and the counties 

 of the English plain, penetrating to the Welsh coast on the west side, and the 

 counties bordering the Channel on the south, but only a straggler to the Devonian 

 Peninsula. Northward it is local in Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire, and 

 has failed to establish itself farther north, but has recently been introduced in 

 Elgin. On the Continent it is scarce in Northern France, and very rare in Belgium 

 except in the hills. In Switzerland it occurs in the Jura and Wallis, and is common 

 from Central and Southern France south to Andalucia, but the Spanish race, as well 

 as those from Corsica and Madeira, have been separated subspecifically. Its presence 

 on the Azores and Canaries is perhaps due to introduction, but it occurs in the 

 Balearic Isles, and also in parts of North-west Italy. [F. c. R. J.] 



3. Migration. The introduced stock is resident and stationary ; but there 

 is some evidence of a slight cross-Channel immigration to the south-east of England 

 (cf. Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 388). [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Like its relative, this species scratches out a hollow 



