'"-i-VAv- 





THE CRESTED PARTRIDGE. 



C/iVPT-OVVA CRISTATIS ViG. 



It would be difficult to find a stronger proof of the 

 mischievous consequences of relying, in the classifica- 

 tion of birds, upon artificial characters to the neglect 

 of natural affinities, than that which is furnished by the 

 history of the remarkable species figured above. In 

 the fourth volume of the Zoological Journal Mr. Vigors 

 has recently detailed the leading facts of this history, 

 and illustrated them with reference to their bearing 

 upon the natural system. 



Originally figured and described by Sonnerat under 

 its native name of Rouloul, the male of this species 

 (which differs from the female in colour and in the 

 presence of a crest on the back of the head) was 

 referred by Dr. Latham, in his General Synopsis, to 

 the Pigeons, while the female was placed among the 



