Genus CACCABIS or ROCK PARTRIDGES. 



Type CACCABIS RUFA. 



Caccabis of Kaup (1829), — The birds comprising the 

 present genus are characterised by their nearly uniform upper 

 plumage, conspicuous gorget, and barred flanks. The wings are 

 rounded and short, the tail is short, and composed of fourteen 

 feathers. The tarsus is scutellated in front, reticulated behind, 

 and armed with tubercles or spurs. The bill is short and stout, 

 the upper mandible arched from the base to the tip; nostrils 

 basal, shielded with an oblong, horny scale, but bare of feathers. 

 Three toes in front ; one behind, small and elevated. 



This genus is composed of about half-a-dozen species, which 

 are confined to the Eastern Hemisphere, being inhabitants of 

 the southern Palaearctic region, and extreme northern portions of 

 the Oriental region. One species has been introduced into the 

 British Islands, where it is a local resident. 



The Rock Partridges are dwellers in bare and mountainous 

 country, scrub-covered hillsides and thickets. They are birds of 

 rapid but never long-sustained flight, and on the ground run and 

 walk with great ease. Their notes are loud and harsh. They 

 subsist chiefly on grain^ seeds, fruit, berries, shoots of herbage, 

 and insects. Their nests are rude, and made on the ground ; 

 their eggs are numerous, and more or less spotted. Their flesh is 

 of comparatively inferior quality. 



