234 
CAUCASIAN SNOW PAKTKIDGE. 
where, however, it was very rare, and only to be 
seen on the peaks of the hills; as this is a point of 
some interest in the history of the birds of this genus, 
I would beg to direct the attention of travellers to 
the subject.” 
Mr. Gould also inserts an extract furnished him by 
Mr. G. E.. Gray, taken from one of the St. Petersburg 
“Transactions,” which is as follows; — 
“This species builds on the highest summits of the 
rocky mountains of the Caucasus; it prefers altogether 
the regions of snow, which it never quits; thus when 
we desired to acclimatize the young chickens of this 
Partridge on the plains of Kahetia, they did hut 
survive the spring. 
It runs on the rocks of the ledges of precipices 
with great agility, and rises with a cry on the least 
danger, so that the most skilful sportsman cannot 
approach within shot, except under cover of mists. 
They live in societies of from six to ten individuals, 
becoming the inseparable companions of the goat, on 
the excrement of which they feed during the winter 
months. 
In autumn it grows very fat, and its flesh resembles 
that of the Common Partridge. In the crop of this 
gallinaceous bird I have found a great quantity of 
sand and of small stones, mixed with all kinds of 
seeds of alpine plants.” 
In the “Ibis,” vol. i, p. 116, the Editor gives an 
extract from the journey of one Herr Kotschy into 
the Cilician Taurus in Asia Minor, in which this bird 
is incidentally mentioned as being found in company 
with the steinbock on the Taurus mountains. He calls 
it “a noble bird with a flne-sounding call.” As this 
is more than half way from the Caucasus to Candia, 
