74 PARTRIDGE. 



The Partridge usually lays but one set of eggs in the year, but should the first lot 

 be destroyed, she not uncommonly lays again, the young birds being of course very small, 

 and unfit for sporting purposes in September; and they are said to be always delicate 

 and puny, and seldom to survive the winter. 



Thei'e is a curious breed of Partridges at Brandsby, about ten miles north of York, 

 which have the horse-shoe mark of a light colour. They are frequently shot by Henry 

 Cholmeley, Esq., of that place. This would appear to be a permanent variety, though 

 some people have supposed it to be a species distinct from the ordinary Partridge. 



Varieties of the Partridge are not very uncommon. Several instances are recorded of 

 white birds, sometimes even whole covies. These varieties were not produced by change 

 of the colour of the feathers from cold, but were naturally so, being albinos, with red 

 irides. Others have occurred of a cream-colour, with darker markings. 



In October, 1851, Mr. D. Graham, of York, shewed me an old female Partridge, which 

 was shot by W. Garwood, Esq., near York, about the middle of September, which had 

 the upper mandible very much elongated, and curved upwards and backwards. The bird 

 was in good condition. Partridges have also occurred with large horny excrescences pro- 

 jecting from the breast, being diseased enlargements of the cuticle. 



A similar malformation, which ran through most of the covey, is recorded by 

 J. Dixon, Esq., in "The Naturalist," vol. iii., page 37. He says that a friend of his shooting 

 near Sherburn, Yorkshire, once sprung a covey of Partridges, out of which he shot eight 

 young birds, each of which had the bill elongated and recurved. "The old birds escaped, 

 which made it impossible to ascertain whether the singularity was hereditary or not." 



The adult male has the bill bluish white; irides, hazel. Behind the eye is a small 

 triangular patch of naked skin, red and papillose. Top of head and back of neck, gray 

 brown. Forehead, eyebrows, cheeks, and throat, pale brownish orange. Back, wing 

 coverts, rump, and upper tail coverts, wood brown, spotted and marked transversely with 

 two shades of chesnut brown. Neck and upper breast, bluish gray, with dark gray 

 zigzag lines closely arranged. Flanks, the same colour, banded with pale chesnut brown. 

 On the lower breast is a large horse-shoe-shaped patch of fine chesnut, margined with 

 yellowish white. The wing coverts and scapulars have the shafts of the feathers of a 

 pale wood-brown, edged with black. Quills, grayish black, with numerous pale brown 

 transverse bars. Tail feathers, brownish red. Legs and toes, bluish gray; claws, 

 brown. 



The adult female has less of the brownish orange on the forehead, eyebrows, cheeks, 

 and throat. The gray brown feathers of the top of the head are edged with white. The 

 horse-shoe mark on the lower breast is either wanting, or else pale in colour, and not 

 so well marked as in the male. 



The male is twelve inches and a half in length; the female twelve inches. 



