The Partridge. ^9 



A male Partridge may be always distinguished by tlie feathers on the side of 

 the neck, they have no pale buff stripes down the shafts. In the female the side 

 neck feathers have almost all a pale buff stripe down each shaft. In the female 

 the central wing-coverts are nearly black, and each feather is transversely and 

 irregularly striped with buff. Mr. Grant says :—" To put it more simply for those 

 who are not versed in the technical names given to the different parts of the 

 plumage. Having looked at the sides of the neck and seen whether they are 

 grey or brown, with pale buff lines down the middle of each feather, turn the 

 Partridge back uppermost, and examine the smaller feathers which cover the upper 

 parts of the wings. If they are sandy-brown, blotched with chestnut, and with 

 small black lines across them, the bird is a cock ; if they are mostly black, with 

 conspicuous buff cross bars, the bird is a hen. The buff cross bars on the wing- 

 coverts are an unmistakable character, and quite sufficient to distinguish the hen 

 at a glance. The Partridge assumes the adult plumage of these parts of the body 

 at the first moult, and, consequently, the above differences are strongly marked 

 before the commencement of the shooting season, except in late broods." Other 

 variations in colour not unfrequently occur. Perfectly white albino varieties are 

 occasionally seen, and a beautiful specimen, in which each feather was spangled 

 with a lighter colour at the end, was recently figured in the " Field." In some 

 parts of the country there is a strong tendency shown for the horse-shoe, which 

 is usually chestnut, being produced of a more or less perfectly white colour. The 

 ^ggs vary greatly in colour ; they may generally be described as olive-brown, but 

 others are nearly white, and some pale blue. The incubation of the birds lasts 

 twenty-one days ; the young are attended to by both parents, and the united 

 family constitute the covey, the members of which remain together until the 

 succeeding nesting season. 



