264



Mr. A. Trevor-Battye,



Temminck placed this bird under the genus Perdix,

Tristram at first under Caccabis, justly remarking b) “The whole

plumage, with the orange bill and lemon coloured tarsi, is a

singular blending of the characteristics of the types of Caccabis

and PerdixP But the bird entirely wants the spurs of the Red-

leg, and finally gained the generic name of Ammoperdix , which

seems to have been conferred on it by Gould—or I have not

been able to find it so given in any work earlier than his.


I have somewhere seen this bird written of as the Sand-

partridge, and Mr. Ogilvie-Grant speaks of it (5) and its ally

Bonham’s Partridge (A. bonhami) [the only other member of the

genus] under their popular name of “See-see” Partridges.

This name, said to express the call of Bonham’s, conveys no

idea whatever of that of Hey’s Partridge. So I have here called

them “ Rock-Partridges,” for that fitly expresses their habits.

Of Bonham’s Partridge Mr. Ogilvie - Grant writes ( 4 5 6 7 ) “ This

handsome little Partridge is met with at elevations ranging

from sea-level to 6,000 or 7,000 feet ” ; and he quotes Mr.

Hume, who says ( 6a ) “ the barer and more desolate the ravines

and gorges, the more thoroughly do they seem at home.” This

is true also of Hey’s Rock-Partridge, as we shall presently see.


By far the best account from first-hand observation which

I have seen is this by Canon Tristram. He writes: b)



(4) Rev. H. B. Tristram. Notes on Birds observed in Southern

Palestine. “ Ibis,” 1859, p. 36.



(5) W. R. Ogilvie-Grant. A Handbook to the Game-Birds. Vol. i.

p. 49. 1895.



(6) Ibid, p. 100.


(6a) Oates, ed : Hume’s Nests and Eggs Ind. B. iii. p. 433. 1890.


See also Claud W. Wyatt. Notes on the Birds of the Peninsula

op Sinai.


“ Ibis.” 1870. p. 4.


Rev. H. B. Tristram. Report on the Birds of Palestine.

P. Z. S. 1S64. p. 449.


Heury Chichester Hart. Fauna and Flora of Sinai,

Petrcea, Wady ’ Arabah.


Captain G. E. Shelley. The Ornithology of Egypt. “Ibis.”

P- 143 -



(7) Rev. H. B. Tristram. The Ornithology of Palestine. “Ibis.”

1868. p. 214.



