$6 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 



of an unmistakable character, and quite sufficient 

 to distinguish the hen at a glance. The partridge 

 assumes the adult plumage of these parts at the first 

 moult ; consequently, the distinctions pointed out by 

 Mr. Grant are strongly marked in the majority of birds 

 before the beginning of the shooting season. 



Mr. Grant's researches go to prove, also, that the 

 horse-shoe mark on the breast is found in birds of 

 both sexes, although it is more liable to vary in size in 

 the female than in the male. In the great majority 

 of young female birds examined the horse-shoe 

 mark was well developed, although in some it was 

 represented by a few chestnut spots. In the old 

 female birds the contrary obtains. In the great 

 majority of old hens, the chestnut horse-shoe is 

 represented by a small patch of chestnut mixed with 

 white. Sometimes the chestnut entirely disappears, 

 giving place to a pure white horse-shoe. 



Black varieties of the partridge are exceedingly 

 rare. Mr. H. A. Digby records two melanistic 

 examples obtained in 1891 and in 1888 respectively. 

 Of these, the first was of a very dark colour, ' the neck, 

 breast and legs looking exactly as if the bird had 

 been covered with soot, which had been washed off 

 leaving all the light feathers slate-coloured, and the 

 head very dark, the horse-shoe being of the natural 



