OCCASIONAL NOTES. 229 
field over: it then alighted on the ground, when a pair of Partridges were 
seen running away from the Owl, when the Owl flew and attacked one of 
them, but after a few seconds the Partridge got away, the Owl pursuing it 
on the wing for a short distance. After this the Owl came and hovered 
over the baited trap, and whilst doing so was shot. I always thought that 
these Owls only preyed on rats, mice, larks, &c., but I now believe they 
destroy game.” On dissection the Owl proved to be a male, and the 
stomach was empty.—J. H. Gurney (Northrepps Hall, Norwich). 
ParTRIDGEs CoLouRED LIKE Rep Grovusr.—At a recent meeting of 
the Natural History Society of Glasgow Mr. Harvie Brown exhibited two 
extremely handsome varieties of the Common Partridge (Perdia cinerea), 
forwarded to him by Mr. George Sim, naturalist, Aberdeen. These birds, 
along with four others, were shot by General Shaw, on the estate at Glass- 
haugh, near Portsoy, in the beginning of October last. They had been 
seen in different covers for some weeks before being killed, and since then 
the people in the neighbourhood reported to General Shaw that similar 
birds had been seen in previous years about the same neighbourhood. 
Mr. Sim says that the females, of which there were four, were all alike in 
plumage, being brown on the breast, while the upper parts are beautifully 
marked with transverse bars of light brown over a ground colour of drab— 
the brown being of greater density in some individuals than in others. The 
male differs markedly from the female, having a preponderance of the rich 
grouse-like chestnut-brown on the back, as well as on the breast. Mr. Sim 
had compared these birds with the description and plate of Perdis cinerea, 
var. montana, in the ‘ Naturalist’s Library’ (vol. iv. pl. 2), and found them 
to agree with that variety, which Sir William Jardine states is common on 
the plains of the Zuyder Zee in Holland. Mr. Harvie Brown observed that 
examples of the same variety had been found on the higher grounds of 
Forfarshire bordering the moors, and often among the heather, where they 
are known as “ Hill Partridges” (see Gray’s ‘ Birds of the West of Scotland,’ 
p- 242). He suggested that the variation had been induced by food, looking 
at the almost perfect grouse-like colour, especially of the male; but added 
that if these birds are identical with Sir W. Jardine’s var. montana, it would 
be difficult to account for the variety arising from food supply when it is found 
upon the low-lying flats of Holland, and he was at a loss to know why it was 
named montana, unless it was discovered in a more mountainous country 
than Holland, where the summit of the highest hills are only some thirty 
feet above the level of the sea. These two birds weighed 132 and 15 ounces 
respectively. Extent of wings, in both, 19} inches; bill to the point of 
tail, 123 inches. 
[Mr. Harvie Brown seems to have misunderstood his author. Sir 
William Jardine in the work quoted does not say that this variety is 
“common on the plains of the Zuyder Zee,” but speaking of the variation 
