223 THE COMMON PARTRIDGE 



as being less likely to attract the notice either of poachers or vermin. 

 Indeed, were she always to lie close, her nest would not be easily 

 discovered, for the colom of her feathers so closely resembles that of 

 withered leaves, that she is, when sitting, less conspicuous than her 

 uncovered eggs would be. 



Common Pheasants are occasionally found having a large portion 

 or even the whole, of their plumage white. These, though highly 

 ornamental when mixed with the common sort, are not prized, 

 owing to their being a more conspicuous mark for poachers. The 

 ' Ringed Pheasant ' occasionally shot in English preserves is not, 

 as some maintain, a distinct species ; it differs from the typical 

 form of the bird only in that the neck is partially surrounded by a 

 narrow white coUar passing from the back of the neck to the sides, 

 but not meeting in front. 



THE COMMON PARTRIDGE. 



PERDIX CINEREA 



Pace, eyebrows, and throat, bright rust-red ; behind the eye a naked red skin ; 

 neck, breast, and flanks, ash colour with black zigzag lines, and on the 

 feathers of the flanks a large rust-red spot ; low on the breast a chestnut 

 patch shaped like a horseshoe ; upper parts ash-brown with black spots 

 and zigzag lines ; scapulars and wing-coverts darker ; quills brown, 

 barred and spotted with yellowish red ; tail of eighteen feathers, the 

 laterals bright rust-red ; beak olive-brown ; feet grey. Female — less 

 red on the face ; head spotted with white ; upper plumage darker, 

 spotted with black ; the horseshoe mark indistinct or wanting. Length 

 thirteen inches. Eggs uniform olive-brown. 



Very few, even of our common birds, are more generally known 

 than the Partridge. From the first of September to the first of Febru- 

 ary, in large towns, every poulterer's shop is pretty sure to be de- 

 corated with a goodly array of these birds ; and there are few rural 

 districts in which a walk through the fields will fail to be enlivened 

 by the sudden rising and whirring away of a covey of Partridges, 

 in autumn and winter ; of a pair in spring. At midsummer they 

 are of less frequent appearance, the female being too busily 

 occupied, either in incubation or the training of her fsmiily, to find 

 time for flight ; and at this season, moreover, the uncut fields of 

 hay, clover, and corn afford facilities for the avoiding of danger, by 

 concealment rather than by flight. The habits of the Partridge, 

 as of the Grouse, are especially terrestrial. It never flies, like the 

 Lark, for enjoyment ; and as it does not perch in trees it has 

 no occasion for upward flight. StiU, there are occasions when 

 Partridges rise to a considerable distance from the ground, and this 

 seems to be when they meditate a longer flight than usual. 



A friend, to whom I am indebted for many valuable notes on 

 various birds, tells me that when a covey of Partridges are disturbed 



