104 



generally reddish brown, tinged with grey, this latter colour being most marked on the wing-coverts, 

 scapulars, and lower back; quills blackish brown, a portion of the outer web of all the primaries, 

 except the first, and of the seven outer secondaries ochre-yellow, the four central rectrices coloured 

 like the back, the remainder being deep foxy red ; throat and cheeks white, and a line of white passes 

 from the base of the upper mandible over the eye down to the side of the hind neck ; on each side of 

 the lower mandible at the base, and at the base of the mandible on the chin, is a black spot ; from the 

 bill through the eye a black band passes, widening and meeting the corresponding band on the fore 

 neck, enclosing the white on the throat ; below this band the lower neck is greyish white, spotted and 

 splashed all round the neck with black, and slightly tinged with brown, and on the lower part of the 

 throat merging into greyish brown ; breast dark French grey, lower breast, abdomen, under tail-coverts, 

 and tibial feathers light reddish ; flanks with the feathers very richly variegated, being light reddish at 

 the base, then rich blue-grey, then crossed by a white bar, then by a subterminal, clearly defined, black 

 bar, and finally terminated with bright foxy red ; bill, naked space about the eye, and feet bright red ; 

 iris hazel, with a reddish tinge. Total length about 13 inches, culmen 075, wing 6'0, tail 365, 

 tarsus 17. 



Adult Female. Very closely resembles the male, but is a trifle duller in colour, and wants the knob on the 

 tarsus. 



Young (Leadenhall Market, September). Resembles the adult, but is much duller in colour; some of the 

 inner secondaries and wing-coverts variegated with brown, and marked with yellowish white ; throat 

 dirty white, the black collar wanting, the lower throat being merely closely spotted with black. 



Obs. Specimens from Spain are a trifle richer in general coloration than others from England ; and the two 

 I have examined in Messrs. Salvin and Godman's collection, from the Azores, have the black collar 

 much broader than many others I have seen. 



The common Red-legged or French Partridge, as this species is usually called in England, has 

 a comparatively small range, being met with only in Western and Southern Europe, Madeira, 

 and the Azores; but having been introduced into Great Britain it has now become tolerably 

 common here, and has been found even as far north as Scotland. 



Mr. A. G. More, writing on its range in England, says (Ibis, 1865, p. 428), " Introduced 

 about one hundred years ago, the Red-legged Partridge has become very numerous in some of 

 the eastern counties, where, in the struggle for life, it has been stated to have in some places 

 nearly supplanted the common Grey Partridge. There must be some local influences that limit 

 the range of the Red-legged Partridge in this country, since the attempts made to establish it in 

 Dorset, Hereford, Derby, and East Yorkshire appear to have failed ; nor has the bird hitherto 

 spread to any of our south-western shires. I am informed by Mr. T. Gough that it has bred 

 regularly of late years in Westmoreland. The bird is returned as now breeding occasionally in 

 Kent (Mr. G. Jell), in Essex, Herts, Oxford (occasionally), Bucks, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, 

 Huntingdon (occasionally), Northampton (occasionally), Lincoln, Rutland (occasionally), and 

 West York (very rarely). The Rev. F. J. Scott believes that it is established in the hills of 

 Gloucestershire; but some confirmation of this last locality appears desirable." As stated by 

 Mr. More, the eastern counties of England are those where this species appears to have found a 

 home most suited to it; and in Norfolk and Suffolk it is numerous. Mr. H. Stevenson, in his 



