340 
COMMON" PARTRIDGE. 
Var. y. corpore toto albo, aut varicgato. 
With the body entirely white, or variegated. 
Perdix cinerea y. Lath. Ind. Orn. 2. 646. — Temm. Gall. Ind. 
731. (c.) 
Perdrix blanche. Temm. Pig. et Gall. 3. 400. 
This well known and elegant bird is generally 
about thirteen inches in length : beneath and be- 
hind the eyes is a naked pale red space, wliich is 
most conspicuous in old birds : the forehead, the 
sides of the head, and the throat, are rufous ; the 
upper part of the head is reddish-brown, with 
longitudinal yellowish lines : the upper part of 
the neck is transversely varied with dusky -grey, 
and a tinge of red : the back, the rump, and the 
upper tail-coverts, are the same, each feather 
having a narrow transverse red band towards its 
tip : the wing-coverts and the scapulars are of a 
deeper hue than the back, and are varied with 
large reddish spots ; each feather having a reddish 
white stripe down the shaft : the under part of the 
neck and the breast are bluish grey, marked with 
transverse black lines, and sprinkled with small 
reddish spots : the lower part of the breast is 
adorned with a rich gorget of deep chesnut, similar 
in form to a horseshoe ; the feathers of the sides 
are grey, varied with black waved lines, and to- 
wards their tip have a large spot of red : the mid- 
dle of the belly is whitish : the quills are brown, 
with reddish yellow zigzag stripes : the tail con- 
sists of eighteen feathers, the lateral ones are ru- 
fous, tipped with grey ; and those of the middle 
similar to the back ; the beak is generally greenish : 
