688 TETRAOGALLUS 



TETRAOGALLUS, Gray, 1833. 



962. CAUCASIAN SNOW-PARTRIDGE. 

 TETRAOGALLUS CAUCASICUS. 



Tetraoyallas caucasicus (Pall.), Zoogr. Ross. As. ii. p. 76, and pi. (1811) ; 

 Dresser, vii. p. 237, pis. 491, 492 ; (Eadde), Orn. Caucas. p. 335, 

 pi. xxi. figs. 1, 2 (eggs); Ogilvie Grant, 'Cat. B. Br. Mus. xxii, 

 p. 109. 



Gornaya-Indcika- Chourtka, Russ. 



ad. (Caucasus). Crown, nape, and hind neck ashy grey ; a broad 

 ashy grey patch, covering a large portion of each side of the head, passes 

 down the side of the neck ; throat, and rest of the neck white ; upper 

 parts greyish black, finely vermiculated with buff, the lower neck and 

 fore back unspotted, the rest of the upper parts with buff and fox-red 

 spots ; primaries white, broadly terminated with blackish ; secondaries 

 white at the base, then like the back ; middle tail-feathers black, vermi- 

 culated with buffy white, the rest black tipped with chestnut, vermiculated 

 at the base with buff, and at the tip with blackish ; lower throat and 

 breast-feathers buffy white margined with black ; rest of under parts 

 blackish ash-grey closely vermiculated with buffy white ; flank-feathers 

 tinged with slate, margined on each side with fox-red, and externally 

 edged with black ; under tail-coverts white ; bill dull yellowish, becoming 

 horn-brown towards the tip ; legs orange-yellow ; iris brown ; bare skin 

 round the eye yellow. Culmen 1*2, wing 10'5, tail 7'0, tarsus 2'25 inch. 

 The female is duller and paler, the crown and hind neck are tinged with 

 reddish brown, the stripe down the neck is reddish brown, and the barring.-* 

 on the lower throat and breast are narrower and ill-defined. 



Hal. The mountains of the Caucasus. 



According to Dr. Radde this bird inhabits only the Great- 

 Caucasus, where it is found close to the snow line in rocky, 

 almost inaccessible places, on the sides of the mountains where 

 the sun has melted the snow, above the tree growth. In its 

 habits it is said to be a true Partridge, and it feeds on tender 

 buds and shoots of various Alpine plants, and lays up a store 

 in some sheltered place for the winter. Its nest is a mere de- 

 pression, or is a scanty bed of plant-stems, on the shelf of a 

 rock in some sheltered position, and the eggs, 12 to 15 in num- 

 ber, are deposited late in April, and are dull light clay-buff in 

 colour with an oil-green tinge, somewhat sparingly spotted with 

 dull rufous, and measure about 2*65 by T78. 



