RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 457 



PERDIX RUFA. 

 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 



(PLATE 20.) 



Perdix rubra, Sriss. Orn. i. p. 236 (1760). 



Tetraorufus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 276 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum Za^wm 



Gmelin, (Dresser}, (Saunders), &c. 



Perdix rufa (Linn.), Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i. p. 290 (1787). 

 Perdix rufipes, Forst. Syn. Cat. Br. B. p. 55 (1817). 

 Caccabis rufa (Linn.), Kaup, Nat. Syst. p. 183 (1829). 

 Perdix rufidorsalis, Brehm, Vogelfang, p. 266 (1855). 



The Red-legged Partridge is principally confined to the eastern counties 

 of England, where it has more or less succeeded in driving out the resident 

 species. It was introduced into this country about a century ago, a large 

 number of eggs having been imported from the continent about 1770 by 

 the Marquis of Hertford and Lord Rendlesham, the chickens having 

 been turned loose in Suffolk. It does not seem to have obtained much 

 footing in other parts of England, though examples are occasionally met 

 with. The attempts to introduce it into Ireland and Scotland appear 

 hitherto to have failed, the climate of those countries probably being 

 scarcely dry enough. 



The range of the Red-legged Partridge is very restricted, and is con- 

 fined to the extreme south-western portions of Europe. The bird is 

 absent from Scandinavia, Russia, Germany, Holland, and all the countries 

 east of a line drawn from Brussels to Venice. It is of very accidental 

 occurrence in Belgium, local and rare in the north of France ; but in South 

 and Central France is abundant and generally distributed. It is a 

 common bird in Spain and Portugal ; and although it has not been known 

 to visit Gibraltar or any part of North Africa, it is found in Madeira and 

 the Azores, but has been probably introduced into those islands. It is some- 

 what common in Savoy, and ranges into Switzerland and southwards into 

 the northern and central portions of Italy, and is found in Elba, Corsica, 

 and the Balearic Islands. 



The Red-legged Partridge has several very near allies. It is inter- 

 mediate between the Barbary Partridge (P. petrosd) and the Rock- 

 Partridge (P. saxatilis), possessing both the black gorget of the former 

 and the spotted gorget below it of the latter. The Barbary Partridge has 

 quite as restricted a range as its British ally, being confined to North-west 

 Africa, the island of Sardinia, the Canary Islands, and the rock of Gibraltar. 

 The Rock-Partridge has a very extensive range, and is consequently subject 

 to much local variation. The typical form with the throat within the 

 gorget white inhabits the Alps, the Eastern Pyrenees, the Carpathians, and 



