2 24 GALLIFORMES chai 



you break these eggs you cause the death of your father, if yoi 

 spare them that of your mother ! ^ 



The genus Perdix contains the Common Partridge (P. cinerea] 

 so valuable for purposes of food and sport, of which it is need 

 less to describe the plumage ; yet attention may be drawn to thi 

 dark chestnut horse-shoe mark on the grey breast, nearly obsoleti 

 in most adult females, and the broad ruddy bars on the sidei 

 and flanks. The hen may be invariably distinguished by wide 

 set buff bands on the black scapulars and adjoining wing- coverts 

 which in the cock are light brown with black vermiculationi 

 and chestnut blotches. The latter sex, moreover, has grej 

 instead of brown sides to the neck.^ Great variation is notice 

 able in the coloration, specimens from dry soils exhibiting th( 

 richest hues, while some are occasionally obtained with a whit( 

 " horse-shoe " mark, and a particularly dark variety has even beer 

 denominated Perdix montana. Hybrids are recorded with th( 

 Eed-Legged Partridge and Eed Grouse, but such are quite excep- 

 tional. Unknown in Shetland, the Partridge has been introducec 

 with moderate success into the Outer Hebrides and Orkneys ; bul 

 in the Highlands of Scotland the character of the country is offer 

 unsuitable, nor is the bird very plentiful in Ireland. Frorc 

 Scandinavia it occurs southward to the Douro valley and Naples 

 though rarer in Northern Europe, and choosing higher grounc 

 than the Eed-legged species in the south ; eastward it reaches 

 through Asia Minor and Persia as far as the Altai Mountains 

 Pairing even in February, it does not nest until about April, th( 

 numbers of individuals reared being naturally much affected bj 

 subsequent excess of wet or drought. The better the cultiva- 

 tion the larger the stock, though grassy heaths, gorse-coverts 

 tangled hedge-rows and thickets also provide excellent harbour 

 Very rarely do Partridges desert the open for woods, or perch ir 

 trees, though during the hot hours they shelter in fields o: 

 turnips, clover, and so forth, emerging at other times to feed or 

 the grain, seeds, leaves, and insects found among short vegetatior 

 or stubble. Cover is naturally eschewed when wet. They offer 

 trust to their powers of foot for escape, or crouch motionless 

 upon soil that matches their plumage, while the whirring noist 

 with which they rise is familiar to all, as is their heavy rapic 



■' Grandidier, Sistoire de Madagascar, xii., Paris, 1879, pp. 489, 490. 

 2 Cf. Ogilvie Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxii. 1893, p. 188. 



