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BARBARY PARTRIDGE. 



Perdix petrosa, LATHAM. 



Pe,dix\ Partridge. Petrosa Of the rocks Rocky. 



THE Barbary Partridge, as its name conveys, is found on 

 the north-western and northern coasts of Africa, from Senegal 

 to Morocco, Barbary, and Algeria, where it is said to be very 

 common. It is found also in the islands of the Mediterranean, 

 Majorca, Minorca, Corsica, Malta, Sardinia, and Sicily; in 

 Europe also in Spain, France, Italy, and Greece; and in Asia 

 in the region of the Caucasus. 



A specimen of this species, a female, was found dead in a 

 field at Edwardthorpe, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 

 in April, 1842. It had every appearance of being a wild 

 bird. About the same period another was shot by a nobleman 

 on the estate of the Marquis of Hertford, at Sudbourn, in 

 Suffolk. It appears that about the year 1770, some eggs 

 had been imported into that part of the country by the 

 then Marquis and Lord Rendlesham. Edwards wrote in 1802 

 that they were frequently brought over. This one may 

 therefore have been a descendant of some of these, or itself 

 a 'Sallee Rover,' but of the most harmless kind. 



These birds go in flocks, frequenting all places that afford 

 them cover, and even come into gardens. They are, however, 

 shy in their habits. They are eaten as food, though not of 

 any superior quality. 



They feed on grain, seeds, and insects. 



They build in barren places and desert mountains, among 

 low bushes on the ground. 



The eggs are as many as fifteen, of a dull yellowish colour, 

 thickly dotted with greenish olive spots. 



Mr. Couch says of one of these birds which he had, that 

 it possessed great strength in its legs, especially in leaping 





