PE11DICINJE. PERDIX. 235 



GENUS LXXIX. PERDIX. PARTRIDGE. 



Bill short, strong, slightly curved ; upper mandible having 

 its dorsal line arcuato-declinate, the edges arched, the tip 

 "blunt ; lower mandible with its dorsal line slightly convex, 

 the edges erect or slightly involute, the tip rounded. Mouth 

 rather narrow ; tongue short, triangular, flat above, fleshy, 

 horny beneath, acute ; oesophagus narrow, with a large crop ; 

 proventriculus bulbiform ; stomach roundish, with very large 

 muscles, and dense, longitudinally rugous epithelium ; intes- 

 tine long, rather wide ; coeca very long, narrow at the com- 

 mencement, enlarged, and somewhat oblong. Nostrils basal, 

 lateral, circular behind, linear before, operculate, the nasal 

 groove very broad and feathered. Eyes rather small, eye- 

 lids feathered ; a narrow space beneath the lower, and a 

 larger space behind the eye and over the ear bare. Head 

 small, oblong, forehead rounded ; neck short ; body full and 

 large. Tarsus short, stout, moderately compressed, with two 

 anterior series of scutella, the males generally with a knob 

 behind ; toes rather stout, the first very short and elevated, 

 the inner considerably shorter than the outer, the anterior 

 webbed at the base ; claws stout, short, depressed, with con- 

 vex ridge, sloping sides, and blunt point. Plumage full, the 

 feathers oblong ; wings very short, broad, curved, rounded, 

 the fourth and fifth quills longest ; tail short, rounded, ge- 

 nerally of sixteen feathers. 



152. PERDIX RUBRA. RED PARTRIDGE. 



Bill and feet bright red ; upper parts reddish-brown, tinged 

 with grey ; forehead ash-grey ; throat and cheeks Avhite ; a 

 black band from the bill to the eye, and thence down the neck, 

 becoming broader on its fore part, which is spotted with the 

 same colour ; lower parts ash-grey and light red ; sides trans- 

 versely banded with ash-grey, white, black, and red ; tarsus 

 of the male with a large flat tubercle. 



Male, 14, 21, 6J, T " T , 1&, l, T V Female, 13. 



This species, which is common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, 

 and the south of France, has been introduced into England, 

 in some of the southern parts of which it is now not uncom- 

 mon. It is said to prefer waste heathy ground to corn-fields, 

 and to afford less sport than the common species, as it runs 



