GREEK PARTRIDGE. 245 



in Greece and the islands of the Archipelago, in 

 Italy, Sicily, Switzerland, and Turkey. Thence it 

 spreads into Syria, being replaced in Persia and 

 India by the form known as P. chtikar. It is found 

 in some parts of Germany and France, and among 

 the mountains of the Jura, the Alps, and the Pyrenees. 

 Specimens from Japan are, according to Temminck, 

 exactly like those found in Europe. Lord Lilford, 

 ("Ibis," vol. ii, p. 238,) says it is the Common 

 Partridge of the Epirus and the Ionian Islands, but is 

 not very abundant in Corfu, where it is only met 

 w T ith on the ridge of San Salvador. He further 

 remarks: — "The Greek Partridge haunts the stony hill 

 sides, never, as far as my own observation goes, 

 descending to the plain. It is not easy to make a 

 good bag of these birds, even in localities where they 

 are numerous, as the coveys disperse on being disturbed, 

 and on alighting each bird takes a line of its own, 

 and sets off running to the nearest covert, which, in 

 these parts, generally consists of thick evergreen shrubs, 

 from which it is very difficult to flush them. In the 

 Ionian Islands they are most abundant in Cephalonia, 

 Santa Maura, Kalumo, Petula, Arkudi, and Meganisi. 

 The flesh of this species is, to my taste, far superior 

 to that of either of its congeners, P. rubra or P. 

 petrosal 



The habit above mentioned by Lord Lilford, of 

 frequenting stony and rocky places, is doubtless the 

 reason why Meyer thought it right to alter the name 

 of this bird, from that wdiich it had possessed for 

 centuries, to that of Perdix saxatilis, a most uncalled- 

 for and unjustifiable innovation. 



The Greek Partridge scrapes a hole near a rock or 

 stone, which it fills with stalks and leaves, and in 



