266 CLASS AVES. 



endure the climate. It does not exist in some islands of the 

 Archipelago, according to Tournefort, who, however, pro- 

 bably speaks of the Greek partridge. 



This species is less social than the last. The same degree 

 of union does not prevail among its flocks. The male does 

 not partake the incubation, and leaves the care of the family 

 entirely to the female. She nestles in the fields and bushes, 

 and lays from fifteen to eighteen eggs, of a dirty yellow, 

 marbled with great red spots, and sown with small ash-coloured 

 points. 



The Greek Partridge is more bulky than the red, ^vith 

 which it has been frequently confounded by naturalists. To 

 it Buffbn refers, and apparently with reason, what the an- 

 cients say concerning the partridge. It is often indicated in 

 the Hebrew books. It is spread throughout all the Ottoman 

 empire, in the islands of the Archipelago, in Sicily, and in 

 the kingdom of Naples. It is also found on the middle 

 region of the German Alps, and on those of Switzerland. It 

 never descends into the plains. 



These birds live in troops until the pairing time, which 

 occurs in June. The female makes no nest, but deposits her 

 eggs, fifteen or eighteen in number, under a bush or tuft of 

 heath. They are reddish yellow, with slight red spots, and 

 are hatched in about three weeks. This species live on insects, 

 the larvae of ants, and during winter on the buds of different 

 evergreens, &c. The flesh is white and much esteemed, though 

 it has a slightly resinous taste, and is rather bitter. 



The Quails all have one common character, which is easily 

 recognised. The first quill of the wing is as long as those 

 which follow it; while in the other partridges it is much 

 shorter. We insert a figure of apparently an undescribed 

 species from the Island of St. Lorenzo in Callao Bay. The 

 head, neck, back, and wing-coverts are light-buff, with lunated 

 obscure spots ; the quills are blackish ; and the throat, belly, 

 vent, and thighs, blue-white. 



