YIEGINIAN PAETRIDGE. 227 



care. Wilson mentions a curious anecdote of some young 

 ones which had been hatched under a hen, and which, 

 'when abandoned by her, associated with the cows, which 

 they regularly followed to the fields, returned with them 

 when they came home in the evening, stood by them while 

 they were milked, and again accompanied them to the 

 pasture. These remained during the winter, lodging in the 

 stable, but as soon as spring came they disappeared.' 



Of a cock bird, one of a pair kept in confinement, and 

 which reared a brood, a correspondent of the 'Magazine of 

 Natural History' wrote, 'Previously to and during the time 

 the hen was sitting, the cock serenaded her with his harsh 

 and singular notes, some of them very similar to the mewing 

 of a cat. He had also a peculiarity of constantly running 

 round in a circle, till the ground where he performed his 

 evolutions was worn as bare as a road, and the turf trodden 

 down. Nothing could be more cordial and harmonious than 

 this happy family. When the shades of evening approached, 

 they crowded together in a circle on the ground, and 

 prepared for the slumbers of the night by placing their tails 

 all together, with their pretty mottled chins facing to the 

 front in a watchful round-robin. When food was thrown in, 

 for them, the male bird would peck at the grain, but not 

 eat any himself until he had called his family around him 

 first to partake of the food, which he did with many soft 

 blandishments, and with much strutting and spreading of the 

 wings and tail.' 



Male: length, a little over nine inches to nine and a half; 

 bill, according to Meyer, bluish horn-colour, or black, as 

 described by Wilson and Macgillivray, dusky black according 

 to Yarrell; from the base of the upper mandible begins a 

 black band, which continues above the eye, and forms a 

 broad collar round the throat; over the eye and down the neck 

 is a white streak underneath the black one. Iris, dusky black ; 

 under the eye is a black band running down the neck on 

 each side and meeting in front; forehead, white; crown, rich 

 red brown, edged on each side with black, of which colour 

 are the centres of the feathers, and they are occasionally 

 elevated in a crest-like manner. Neck on the sides and nape, 

 also yellowish red brown, pencilled or spotted with white and 

 black; most of the feathers edged with bluish ash-colour and 

 pale yellow. Chin and throat, white, bounded by the band 

 of black. Breast, on the upper part, pale reddish brown; the 



