GAME-BIRDS 



43- 



the front of the same, the rest of the leg being covered with smaller shields. One 

 species, the rock or Greek partridge (Caccabis saxatilis), is a true Alpine bird, 

 inhabiting Switzerland, the Tyrol, and Upper Bavaria, where it dwells in the 

 higher regions during summer, but descends to lower levels in autumn. Its home 

 is among the rocks, especially on the sunny side of the mountains ; but it also 

 resorts to districts covered with shrubs, grass, and heather. In Italy and Greece, 

 where it frequents the 

 cornfields, it may be 

 either resident or migra- 

 tory, according to the . / 

 food-supply. In winter 

 these partridges con- 

 gregate in coveys or 

 packs, but in spring- 

 separate into pairs, each 

 of which chooses its feed- 

 ing-ground, which is de- 

 fended against intruders 

 by the cock. The hen 

 scratches a small hollow 

 in the ground under a 

 bush, a tuft of grass, or 

 projecting rock.oramong 

 stones, and on a few 

 stalks and leaves lays 

 her twelve to fifteen 

 pointed eggs, — in the 

 higher Alpine regions in 

 May, but in the warmer 

 parts of Greece in March. 

 The Greek eggs are yel- 

 lowish, and either devoid 

 of spots or covered with 

 numerous yellow or 

 brownish markings of 

 different shapes and 

 sizes. The Swiss eggs, 

 on the other hand, are 

 brownish, with large 

 irregular spots at the 



thin end, crowded into a sort of cross. It is also said that the northern birds 

 lay larger eggs than their southern kindred. 



The Greek bird, which is slightly smaller than the Alpine form, is by some 

 ornithologists regarded as a race of the Asiatic C. chukar, a species but little 

 removed from C. saxatilis'. In the sixteenth century these partridges frequented 

 the Rhine Mountains near St. Gall : and at the present day, besides the Bavarian 



VOL. I. — 28 



EOCK rARTRID'.E. 



