410 



GAME-BIRDS. 



top of the head and mantle ; the eyebrow stripe, chin, and throat being white, and! 

 the throat bounded by a black band. The feathers of the neck and chest are broadly 

 edged with black, while those of the sides and flanks are grey barred alternately 

 with white, black, and chestnut ; the bill, legs, and feet being bright coral-red. Unlike 

 the common partridge, the red-legged species sometimes perches on trees, walls, and 

 palings, and when pursued always prefers to escape by running. During the 

 pairing -season the males are pugnacious, fighting not only among themselves, 

 but with the common species. The eggs vary from ten to eighteen, and are 

 deposited in a hollow in the ground among rough grass or in growing crops. 



FKENCH PARTRIDGES (^ nat. size). 



Bonham's The pretty little Bonham's partridge (Ammoperdix bonhami), 



Partridge, known in India as the sisi, and Hey's partridge (A. heyi), found on 

 both shores of the Red Sea, form a small well-marked group nearly allied to the 

 last, but with the plumage of the two sexes different, the males having the feathers 

 of the sides and flanks margined with black instead of being cross-barred, while 

 the legs are never armed with spurs. The sisi has a wider range, being found from 

 North- West India to the Euphrates Valley, and extending southwards to Aden. 

 The male may be recognised by its grey head and neck, with a white black-edged 

 band passing across the forehead and along the sides of the head to the ear-coverts, 

 the general colour of the rest of the plumage being vinous buff. In the male of 

 Hey's partridge the head and neck are vinous fawn-colour, and the upper-parts 

 much paler. The females of both are almost indistinguishable, having the head and 



