THE



263



Hvtcultural /Ilba$a3me t


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AV1CULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series. —VOL. III. — NO. 9 .—All rights reserved. JULY, 1905.



THE BREEDING OF HEY’S ROCK-PARTRIDGE.


Avivioperdix heyi.


By A. Trevor-Battye, M.A., F.T.S., F.Z.S.


When I was in the Cairo Zoological Gardens, in the spring

of last year, 1904,1 was much struck by the elegance of these little

partridges, and through the kindness of Captain S. S. Flower,

the Director, was able to bring home a pair. I have not heard

of any in private hands in this country, and perhaps our Zoo¬

logical Society’s list, which shows there were some in the

Gardens in 1879, forms the last aviary record we have of them.

A few words of preface will therefore not be out of place.


Temminck b) tells us that he received a male and female of

“ this new species ” from M. Cretschmaer, Director of the Natural

History Museum of Frankfort, which had been forwarded by M.

Riippel to his native town. Cretschmaer had named it “after M.

Hey, Ruppel’s companion in the deserts of Acaba [Alcabah] in

Arabia.” The birds, drawn in the Natural History Museum in

Paris, are figured in Temminck’s work, and are recognisable.


Riippel in his work < 2 ) remarks that “ its name in the

Hedjas Province is Hadjel.”


Gould figures a pair of these birds b) from specimens

“ brought from Arabia by Tord Robert Clinton.” Considering

that these drawings were from dead specimens they are very

good.


(1) C. J. Temminck. Nouveau recueil de planches coloriees d'oiseaux .

Fivraison 55, Paris, 1S25.


(2) Dr. Eduard Riippel. Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abys-

sinien gehorig. Vogel, p. 10. Frankfurt am Main, 1835.


(3) John Gould, F.R.S. The Birds of Asia. Vol. vii. PI. 2. 1851.



