PARTRIDGES. 409 



the coral-red legs are armed in the male with stout spurs ; the tail having fourteen 

 feathers. Closely allied to but distinguished by their larger size, differently shaped 

 wing, and tail of eighteen feathers, are the two rare species of pheasant-grouse 

 (Tetrtwphaais) from the highlands of Central and Eastern Tibet, and from them 

 we pass to the snow-cocks which are the giants among the tribe, and only found at 

 great elevations in the mountains of Asia. The Himalayan snow-cock (Tetrogallus 

 himcdayensis), one of the largest of the six species, and not much inferior to 

 the capercaillie in size, ranges through the Western Himalaya to the Hindu- 

 Rush, and northwards through the Altai. In the male the feathers of the upper- 

 parts are mostly grey, finely mottled and margined with buff, while there is a large 

 chestnut patch on each side of the nape, and a band of the same colour surrounds 

 the throat, which, together with the chin and eyebrow stripes, is white. The 

 breast is white barred with black, and the rest of the under-parts mostly grey, the 

 sides and flanks being margined with chestnut and buff. The female scarcely differs 

 in plumage, but may be distinguished by her smaller size and the absence of the 

 blunt spurs of the male. These birds are confined to the snowy ranges above the 

 limits of forest, but are driven by the snows of winter to perform one or in some 

 places two annual migrations to the middle regions. In summer they are only 

 seen near the limits of vegetation, but from June till August, however much the 

 sportsman may wander on the highest accessible places of the Gangetic Hills, only 

 a few are met with, the majority, no doubt, retiring across the snowy range into 

 Chinese Tibet to breed. At the beginning of September they are first seen near 

 the top of the higher grassy ridges, and after the first general severe fall of snow 

 come down in numbers on some of the bare exposed hills in the forest regions, 

 where they remain till the end of March. Gregarious, and often congregating in 

 packs, sometimes to the number of twenty or thirty, snow-cocks never enter the 

 forests or jungle, avoiding spots where the grass is long. When feeding, they 

 walk up hill, picking up tender blades of grass and young shoots of plants, 

 occasionally stopping to scratch up bulbous roots, of which they are fond, 



Red-Legged Easily recognised by their transversely barred sides and flanks, 



Partridges, which contrast strongly with the rest of the plumage of the breast 

 and under-parts, the red-legged partridges are represented by half a dozen 

 species. In these birds the tail is composed of fourteen feathers, and the sexes 

 are similar, except that the male is provided with a pair of blunt spurs. In the 

 mountains of Southern Europe, ranging from the Pyrenees to the Balkans, the so- 

 called Greek partridge is found ; but in the Grecian Islands and Cyprus its place 

 is taken by the nearly allied chukar (Caccabis chukar), distinguished by having 

 the lores or space in front of the eye white instead of black. Its range is extensive, 

 extending across Asia to China, and reaching from the sea-level to an elevation of 

 sixteen thousand feet ; while the bird apparently flourishes as well in desert-country 

 as in cultivated hills. Their surroundings largely affect the chukar both in size and 

 colour ; the paler-coloured birds from the Persian Gulf differing widely from the 

 dark forms found in Cyprus and the Himalaya. The common red-legged or French 

 partridge (C. rufa), shown in the woodcut on next page, is a native of South- West 

 Europe, and was introduced into England towards the end of the last century. It 

 is a handsome bird, the upper-parts being olive-brown shading into chestnut on the 



