THE HILL-PARTRIDGES. 



THE Hill-Partridges, of which there are 

 seven species found within our limits, 

 are birds of about the size of the English 

 Partridge. Most of them are brightly 

 coloured, and all of them are characterised 

 by having the neck or throat, or both, 

 spotted in such a manner as to form a 

 feature which cannot be overlooked. 

 The feathers of the throat are moreover 

 rather meagre, and the red skin of that 

 part is in life, or in freshly killed birds, 

 generally very conspicuous. The tail of 

 these birds, composed of 14 feathers, is 

 of the same general colour as the upper 

 plumage, namely, olive-brown mottled 

 with black. The quills of the wing are 

 uniformly coloured, and the first falls 

 short of the tip of the wing by about an 

 inch. 



The sexes are alike in plumage and 

 size, except in one species, where the 

 differences of plumage are very consider- 

 able. All the Hill-Partridges have long 



