PERDIX 683 



Perdrix grise, French; Starna, Ital.; Rcbhuhn, German; Patrys,. 

 Dutch : Agerhona, Dan. ; Eaphona, Norweg. ; Bapphwa 

 Swed. ; Twrkwipyy, Peltopyy, Finn. ; Kouropatka, Russ. 



ad. (England). Crown, nape, and ear-coverts warm brown ; fore- 

 head, a broad stripe over the eye, sides of the head, chin, and upper throat 

 orange chestnut ; hind neck and upper parts brownish grey, vermiculated 

 with reddish brown and dark brown, the wing-coverts marked with chest- 

 nut, and with a central ochreous shaft stripe ; rump and upper tail-coverts 

 banded with chestnut ; tail chestnut-red, the middle feathers buffy and 

 vermiculated with brown towards the tip ; lower throat and breast pale 

 blue-grey, vermiculated with dark grey ; on the lower breast a dark chest- 

 nut horseshoe patch ; flanks barred with chestnut ; lower abdomen and 

 thighs greyish white ; under tail-coverts yellowish buff, vermiculated with 

 dark greyish ; legs and feet bluish grey, with a brown tinge ; bill bluish 

 white ; iris hazel-brown. Culmen 0'75, wing 6*1, tail 3*95, tarsus l ! 75inch. 

 The female is rather smaller, has the upper parts darker and browner, the 

 light chestnut on the throat covers a smaller area, the horseshoe pectoral 

 band is either wanting or much smaller, and the wing-coverts have buff 

 cross-bars. 



Hal}. Temperate Europe generally, north to central 

 Scandinavia and Great Britain, south to the Mediterranean; 

 Asia east to the Altai and Northern Persia. 



Frequents open, cultivated ground or heaths and commons, 

 not woodlands, and except during the breeding season is found 

 in coveys. Its flight is strong, with a loud whirring sound, 

 and it is essentially a ground bird, never perching on a tree, 

 and its call-note is Jcertchup, Jcertchup. It nests also on the 

 ground, lining a depression in the ground with a few dry straws 

 or grass-bents,^and in May deposits 12 to 16 sometimes even 

 more eggs, which are uniform pale olivaceous brown, and 

 measure about 1'43 by 1*07. 



955. DAURIAN PARTRIDGE. 

 PERDIX DAURICA. 



Perdu: daurica (Pall.), Zoogr. Ross. As. ii. p. 78 (1811) ; David, N. Arch. 

 Mu3. Bull. iii. p. 38 ; Ogilvie Grant, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxii. p. 192 ;. 

 P. larlata, Verr. and Desm. P.Z.S. 1863, p. 62, pi. ix. ; Gould, B, 

 of As. vi. pi. 73 ; Tacz. F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 776. 



Kourcpatka-bwadataya, Kamenoi-ItiabtscJiik^viss. 



$ ad. (Dauria). Differs from P. cinerea in having the chin, throat, 

 sides of the head and the breast warm golden ochreous, the feathers on the 

 side of the throat elongated, and the pectoral horseshoe-shape 1 patch deep 

 black. Culmen 1-0, wing 6-0, tail 3'4, tarsus T45 inch. 



