600 



GALLINID^E. 



on the upper part, and with brown on the neck and all 

 the under part of the body. 



Pondicherry Francolm. This species is also 

 called the Pondicherry partridge ; and indeed all the 

 francolins and also the colins are partridges in com- 

 mon speech. As its name imports, this species is 

 found in India, but it is of course not confined to the 

 neighbourhood of Pondicherry. It came first from 

 that place to France, and is one instance of the ab- 

 surdity of calling animals after confined localities. 



The upper parts are red, with zigzag bands of 

 white ; the top of the head reddish ash ; the back of 

 the neck grey, and streaked with black ; the primary 

 quills are pale ash, the secondaries red, with white 

 round eyes ; the rump is grey, mottled with black and 

 white ; the tail-feathers are brilliant red, bordered 

 with black, except the two middle ones, which are 

 russet, finely pencilled with brown, and crossed by 

 four bands of yellow ; the chin and upper part of the 

 throat are yellow, with minute black spots ; the breast 

 pale rose-colour, waved with black ; the belly white, 

 with crescent-shaped black spots ; the flanks are red- 

 dish with white spots ; the bill is blackish, and the 

 feet red. The length of the male is about ten inches. 

 The female is pale fawn-colour, streaked with black 

 on the upper part ; the quills have black tips, and the 

 coverts of the wings have nine or ten bands of white, 

 with black at the ends ; the head, the neck, and the 

 upper part of the breast are brownish white, spotted 

 with black ; the lower part of the breast is white, and 

 the belly brown with black lines. 



Pearled Francolin. This is another eastern 

 species, being found both in India and China. Upper 

 part deep golden red ; top of the head black with red 

 margins to the feathers ; front yellow ; and sides of 

 the head white, with a black spot on each : the quills 

 black rayed with white ; the coverts bright red, 

 barred with black ; the back of the neck and the 

 breast black, and spotted with white, from which the 

 name "pearled" is derived ; the abdomen black, with 

 small points of reddish ; the bill black, and the feet 

 red. Length eleven inches : the female is smaller. 

 She has a black streak behind the eye ; the feathers 

 of the upper part margined with bright brown, and 

 irregularly spotted with white. 



There are many other species or varieties described 

 in the catalogues, but those to which we have alluded 

 must suffice as a specimen : nor should we, even if 

 we were to detail the whole with the greatest minute- 

 ness, be thereby adding materially, or almost in any 

 degree, to the quantity of useful knowledge ; we 

 should be merely mentioning a few more varieties of 

 colour, and slight differences of size ; for the habits of 

 the birds are so nearly alike, that when we have 

 mentioned in what they differ from the true par- 

 tridges, we have told almost the whole tale of their 

 natural history. 



THE COLINS, or partridges of North America, differ 

 in many of their habits, both from the partridges and 

 the francolins of the eastern continent, or rather they 

 combine many of the habits of both. They inhabit 

 indiscriminately the open places and the woods, and 

 sometimes parks, and at other times seek a sequestered 

 repose upon the ground. The nest is, accordingly, 

 sometimes in a bush, and sometimes in a tuft in the 

 open prairie; but it is always formed of the same mate- 

 rials, and put together in the same rude manner. It is 

 composed of a few sticks, lined with withered stalks 

 and grass. They are very prolific, the eggs in a 



single hatch being rarely fewer than fifteen, and often 

 as many as five and twenty. When one brood have 

 broken the shell, the male, at least in some of the 

 species, takes the rearing of them, while the female 

 proceeds with another hatch. All the hatches of the 

 season are united into one flock, but as the birds are 

 sought after with much avidity, both by the settlers 

 and by the aboriginal inhabitants of the forests, and 

 as they have besides many enemies, their numbers 

 are very much thinned every season, before the time 

 of reproduction again comes round. 



These birds, many of which are recent additions to 

 natural history, and of most of which the history is 

 very imperfect, have been indiscriminately called 

 partridges and quails. They have many points of 

 resemblance to both ; but in strict propriety they 

 belong to neither ; and thus they have been formed 

 into a separate genus, under the name Ortyx. Some 

 species have been mentioned as inhabiting South 

 America, at least as far to the southward as Guiana, 

 and the valley of the river Amazon ; but there seems 

 to be some little doubt on the subject. It may, how- 

 ever, be true that they pass gradually from the more 

 typical ones of the north to the tiraanous of the south ; 

 but we are not yet in possession of any connected 

 chain of data that will bear out such a conclusion. 

 This consideration, as well as that of space, which the 

 interest of this order of birds has already tempted us 

 to exceed, force us to confine ourselves to the mere 

 naming of one or two of the species. 



THE VIRGINIAN QUAIL, OR PARTRIDGE (Orty.r 

 Virginiamis), inhabits the temperate parts of North 

 America, and generally perches on trees. According 

 to the accounts, this species appears to have at least 

 one of the habits of the partridge, that is, it follow?, 

 rather than it crosses, the progress of cultivation and 

 improvement. In this respect it is very different 

 from most of the animals or the wild forests of Ame- 

 rica. These have, in general, fled before the march of 

 the axe and the plough ; and no more vestige of them 

 remains in the places which are settled than if they 

 had never been there. But the quail (as it is termed) 

 is said to have come to settled places in which it was 

 quite unknown Vhile they remained in a state of 

 nature. This is the case with the partridge, but with 

 the partridge only among our analogous birds. The 

 common quail has disappeared from England, and 

 occurs only as a visitant, or if as a resident, is very rare. 

 The grouse is also now unknown in many places where 

 it was once abundant ; but the partridge is more 

 abundant than ever ; and as the heath plants give 

 way before the sheep farming, and the harsh tufty 

 sward yields to the plough, the heath birds depart, 

 and the partridge occupies their place. Sucli is re- 

 ported to be the case even with Canada ; and the 

 birds have come in from the west, and not yet made 

 their appearance in the valley of the St. Lawrence, 

 below the fall of Niagara ; but they have been de- 

 scribed as resting in the fields of Upper Canada 

 after dark, and uttering cries similar to those of 

 partridges when they jug. 



The Virginian quail, which must be widely ex- 

 tended, as it has also been called the northern quail, 

 the Maryland quail, and the Mexican quail, has the 

 upper part yellowish red, with ash-coloured and black 

 borders to the feathers, and large black spots with 

 red borders down the back. The scapulars and 

 coverts are variously marked with ash-colour, brown 

 and black. The smaller coverts are russet with. 



