PARTRIDGES. 



201 



rocky ground and ravines, are very gentle, and feed on seeds and such herbage as 

 grows in the localities they inhabit. One species, A. bonhami, is found in India, 

 Afghanistan, Persia, and Beluchistan, while the other, A. heyi, is a native of western 

 Arabia, the Sinaitic Peninsula, Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine. A partridge from west 

 Africa, of a general earthen-brown plumage, closely allied to the birds of the genera 

 Perdix and Ammoperdix, has been separated by Swainson as a sub-genus, and called 

 Ptilopachus ventralis. The two lateral toes are nearly equal in length ; the tail is 

 much developed, and the nostrils occupy almost one half the length of the mandible. 

 The shafts of the feathers on the back and rump are thickened as in the pigeons. 

 The single species is the only representative of the genus. 



u 



FIG. U5. Caccabis rubra, red-legged partridge. 



Thirteen or fourteen species are included in the genus Aborophila, or hill-par- 

 tridges, the greater portion (nine) being found in India and Burmah and the Malay 

 Peninsula, two are found in Java, one in Sumatra, one in the island of Formosa, and 

 one in the Philippines. They are forest-loving birds, live in mountainous districts in 

 the densest thickets, go in coveys, and have a whistling call. The sexes differ slightly 

 in plumage. The Formosan bird has been separated under the generic title, Oreo- 

 perdix, and has a bare, bright-red throat in the breeding season. 



The red-legged partridges, together with the species of Ammoperdix^ have been con- 

 sidered by some writers as worthy of constituting a sub-family of the Perdicidae, but 

 while perhaps not quite entitled to that distinction, they do nevertheless form a well- 

 marked group. The species have a wide range and are spread over temperate Europe, 



