86 VIRGINIAN PARTRIDGE. 



know that a quantity were turned clown upon the large demesne of Edward John Littleton, 

 Esq., M. P., at Teddesley, in Staffordshire, and that they did not breed at all, but straggled 

 away, and some of them were shot ten or fifteen miles from his estate." 



The success which attended this experiment, proves that these birds will readily breed 

 in confinement; and probably those bred and reared in this country would more easily 

 become naturalized, when turned out, than those imported from America. 



The adult male has the bill black; irides, dusky. Forehead, black; a black band 

 over each eye; between this and the eye is a white band, extending from the bill over 

 the ear coverts half way down the neck ; chin and neck, white ; a black streak commences 

 at the base of the upper mandible, and running under the eye, swells at its posterior 

 part into a broader band, which running down the neck, curves forwards and joins its 

 fellow on the opposite side. Upper back and sides of neck, red brown; most of the 

 feathers on the upper parts are edged with blue gray or brownish yellow; lower back, 

 rump, and upper tail coverts, grayish brown, mottled with black; breast and abdomen, 

 yellowish white, the feathers edged with black. Quills, grayish brown; sides and flanks, 

 buff white, marked with chesnut; tail feathers, twelve, bluish ash-colour. Legs and toes, 

 reddish brown; claws, dusky. 



The female has the parts of the head and neck, which are white in the male, of a 

 light yellow brown. The edges of the scapulars and tertials are whiter than in the male. 

 The upper parts are all lighter coloured, and the under parts have less of the chesnut 

 colour on them. 



The length of the male is about nine inches and a half. The female measures half 

 an inch less. 



