248 SHORTER-BILLED RUNNING BIRDS. 



RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE.— Form, like Com- 

 mon Partridge (plate 106). 14 inches. Upper parts 

 ruddy - ash ; a black circular line enclosing the 

 white throat ; below this black line a whitish 

 margin, streaked with black ; flanks broadly cross- 

 banded with white, black, and chestnut ; belly bright 

 rufous ; bill and legs red. Eeaident. 



Eggs. — 15 — 18, yellowish -white, sufiused and 

 minutely spotted all over with rusty-brown ; 1"6 >< 1"25 

 inch (plate 132). 



Nest. — Merely a slight hollow in the ground. 



The Red-Legged Partridge has been introduced and 

 acclimatised in the south-eastern counties of England. 

 It is a bird of wilder habit than the Common or Gray 

 Partridge, frequenting drier and uncultivated lands. 

 Being fleet of foot, it trusts to its running powers to 

 efiect escape. If forced to rise by imminent danger, 

 it does so with a loud whirring of the wings, going 

 dead-ahead in heavy flight, and skimming to earth 

 again with hollowed, hanging wings when beyond 

 range. The nest is a slight hollow scratched in the 

 ground at the foot of a hedgerow or some similarly 

 sheltered place. The birds feed in the open almost 

 without motion, appearing like stationary objects as 

 they creep about with lowered heads. The note is 

 quite different from that of the Common Partridge, 

 being a clear, musical piping. 



COMMON PARTRIDGE— 12i inches; face, throat, and 

 fore-neck chestnut; breast gray, with a large chestnut 

 horse-shoe patch on the lower breast of the male ; legs 

 horn-colour. A grayer bird, frequenting cultivated lands. 



