A LLINM. 



RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 115 



PHASIANIDM. 



CACCABIS RUFA (Linnaeus*). 

 THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 



Perdix rufa. 



CACCABIS, Kaup-^. Bill short, stout, naked at the base ; upper mandible 

 decurved to the tip. Nostrils basal, lateral, partly covered and closed by an 

 oblong horny scale. Wings short, rounded ; the first three feathers shorter than 

 the fourth and fifth, which are the longest. Tail, of fourteen feathers, short, 

 rounded. Tarsi anteriorly scutellate, and, in the male, armed with blunt spurs ; 

 feet with one toe behind, and three in front united at their bases by a membrane. 



THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE is one of the genus Caccabis, 

 a well-defined group of birds which closely resemble each 

 other in their main pattern of coloration, and also in their 

 habits. They prefer sandy soils, and some of them are 

 partial to mountainous districts ; the sexes being alike ; 



* Tctrao rufus, Linnaeus, Syst, Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 276 (1766), partim. 

 t Naturl. Syst. p. 183 (1829). 



