THE PARTRIDGES 57 



the reader's mind. But there is an aspect of this coloration that may 

 well be referred to here, especially as it is fraught with important 

 consequences to species which, like the pheasant, display defective 

 maternal instincts. This coloration, then, is certainly of a protective 

 character, and in most young birds in which it appears seems to be 

 all-sufficient. Not so in the case of the game-birds, however, which 

 display an unusual precocity of flight. Considerations of space 

 forbid me to enter into the possible origin of this, but I have discussed 

 the theme elsewhere. 1 Let it suffice here to remark, that in the 

 pheasant, at any rate, this precocious flight is harmful, at least on 

 occasions of sudden alarms, such as temporarily deprive the female 

 of her maternal sense. For the young, scattering in all directions, 

 wander too far, and failing to find their way back perish miserably. 

 It may well be that a similar condition of things in other groups of 

 birds has gradually reduced these precocious powers of flight and 

 perfected the instinct to squat down and trust to the protective 

 coloration e.g. young Norfolk-plovers. 



THE PARTRIDGES 

 [W. P. PYCRAFT] 



Although the common or grey-partridge and the redlegged- 

 partridge are both members of the same subfamily Perdicince they 

 are not really so closely related as some would suppose, the redlegged 

 species being more nearly allied to the Francolins. They certainly 

 differ markedly in coloration when adult, though their structural 

 differences are not so obvious. In the redlegged-partridge, however, 

 among other things, the legs, at any rate in the male, are armed with 

 an irregular series of blunt knobs of horny tissue, apparently answer- 

 ing to the " spurs " of the pheasant, for example. At best these can 



1 A History of Birds, p. 244. 

 VOL. IV. H 



