132 



nigricanti tenuissime undulatis : pectore imo macule saturate castanea, formam ferri equini referente 

 notato : hypochondriis pectori similibus sed sordidioribus et castaneo fasciatis : abdomine imo et tibiis 

 cinereo-albis : subcaudalibus ochraceo-cervinis saturate cinereo vermiculatis : pedibus cinereis, rostro 

 cinereo-albo : iride fusca. 



$ ad. mari similis sed minora corpore supra saturatiore, pileo ochraceo-fusco guttata, area rufa in gula minore 

 et hypochondriis magis transfasciatis. 



Adult. Male (England, 1st February) . Crown, nape, and ear-coverts warm brown ; forehead, a broad stripe 

 over the eye, sides of the head, chin, and upper throat orange-chestnut; behind the eye is a small 

 naked patch of red skin; hind neck and back brownish grey, vermiculated with reddish brown and 

 dark brown ; wing-coverts similar, but marked with chestnut, and each feather with a central ochreous- 

 buff shaft-stripe ; primaries brown, barred with ochreous brown ; rump and upper tail-coverts like the 

 back, but banded with chestnut; central rectrices chestnut-red at the base, becoming buffy red, 

 vermiculated with brown towards the tip ; rest of the tail uniform chestnut-red ; lower throat and 

 breast light blue-grey, finely vermiculated with dark grey ; lower breast with a rich, dark chestnut 

 horseshoe-shaped patch ; flanks duller than the breast, and barred with chestnut ; lower abdomen and 

 thighs greyish white; under tail-coverts yellowish buff, finely vermiculated with dark greyish; legs 

 and feet dull brownish grey, with a bluish tinge ; bill bluish white ; iris hazel-brown. Total length 

 about 12 - 5 inches, culmen - 75, wing 6'1, tail 3 - 95, tarsus 1"75. 



Adult Female (England) . Eather smaller than the male ; upper parts darker and browner, and more 

 marked with brown and buff; the light chestnut on the throat covers a smaller area; the chestnut 

 patch on the breast is small, not being assumed before the second or third year ; and the bars on the 

 flanks are broader. 



Young in first autumn (Aboyne) . Upper parts as in the female, but duller, and more variegated with brown ; 

 neck spotted with ochreous; no chestnut patch on the breast, this part being dull whitish. 



Young in down. Upper parts yellowish rust-brown, marked with reddish and blackish brown; crown 

 marked with a couple of dark stripes ; and the markings form also stripes on the sides of the back ; 

 throat and underparts yellowish white on the flanks, washed with rusty yellow ; bill and feet yellowish 

 flesh-coloured. 



The Common or Grey Partridge is generally distributed throughout temperate Europe, becoming 

 rarer in the south ; and it does not range into North Africa. In Asia it does not extend very far 

 from the confines of Europe, and is replaced in Eastern Asia by Perdioc barbata. 



Throughout Great Britain the Partridge is very generally distributed, being, however, much 

 less common in uncultivated localities ; and it is rather less numerous in the north of Scotland 

 than it is in the lowlands and in England. All through England it is very common ; but its 

 numbers vary considerably according to the state of the weather during the breeding-season, and 

 it is more numerous in some counties than in others according as the soil is favourable or not. 

 Mr. Cecil Smith informs me that it has been introduced and has bred in the little island of 

 Herm, near Guernsey; but, unless closely preserved, it will soon become extinct there again. In 

 Norfolk and the eastern counties it has to contend for existence with the Ked-legged Partridge, 

 which would probably oust the present species in the struggle for existence were it not kept 

 down as much as possible. In Northumberland and Durham, Mr. Hancock says (B. of North. & 



