THE COLOURS OF PARTRIDGES 55 
some time to elucidating the plumage of partridges, 
publishing the results of his labours in the ‘ Field’ of 
November 21, 1891, from which we quote the sub- 
stance of his remarks, 
Mr. Grant finds that the only trustworthy charac- 
teristics by which a male partridge may always be dis- 
tinguished from a female, except when very young, 
are the following : 
t. In the male, the sides of the neck are brownish 
grey, or nearly pure slate colour, with fine wavy lines 
of black ; none of the feathers have pale buff stripes 
down the shaft. In the female these parts are olive- 
brown, and almost all the feathers have a pale buff 
stripe down the shaft, often somewhat dilated or club- 
shaped towards the extremity, and finely margined 
with black 
2. In the male, the ground colour of the terminal 
half of the lesser and medium wing coverts is pale 
olive-brown, with a chestnut patch on one or both 
webs, and each feather has a narrow pale buff shaft- 
stripe, and narrow, wavy transverse black lines. In 
the female, the ground colour of these parts is mostly 
black, shading into buff towards the extremity ; each 
feather has a fairly wide buff shaft-stripe, and is also 
transversely barred with buff, narrowly edged with 
black. The buff cross-bars on the wing coverts are 
