18 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Mr. Gunn, of Norwich, among the many which have passed 

 through his hands, has never seen one so perfect that it could not 

 be distinguished from a cock. Neither have I, save in the single 

 instance of the one mentioned in the ' Transactions of the Norfolk 

 and Norwich Naturalists' Society' (iv. p. 184), and that was a 

 perfect plumaged cock Pheasant without spurs ; but the sex may 

 not have been, and probably was not, ascertained with certainty. 

 Nevertheless, if a female Duck and a Chaffinch can attain the 

 perfect masculine garb, why not a Pheasant ? 



Mr. Gunn has one which comes very near to perfection, but 

 the black chest- spots and breast- markings are smaller, and the 

 tail not so long as that of the cock. 



In Mr. Millais' beautiful ' Game Birds,' already referred to, 

 there is a plate of an adult Black cock assuming the plumage of 

 the Grey hen. A similar instance is given of a Barn-door cock 

 figured in Mr. Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book' (p. 133). Such cases, 

 however, are of extreme rarity. 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



BIRDS. 



The Migration of Partridges. — In 'The Zoologist' (1893, p. 433) 

 a correspondent enquires whether Partridges are known to migrate, from 

 which I conclude that the occurrence of the so-called " Zughiihuer" (i. e. 

 " wandering partridges ") in North Germany is not so generally known in 

 England as in Germany, where almost every educated forester and hunter 

 has at least heard of it. It may therefore be of interest to the readers of 

 4 The Zoologist' to supply a few notes on the subject. In the northern 

 parts of Germany large flocks of Partridges were noticed by a number of 

 observers to appear suddenly in autumn or winter, and to disappear again 

 before the breeding season. They were also seen in packs of from fifty to 

 at least five hundred, always kept close together, and could not be dispersed. 

 They strayed restlessly over the fields, were extremely shy, and were 

 difficult to shoot. These wandering Partridges are said to be distinctly 

 smaller, greyer than the common German Partridge, and to have darker 

 feet. I met with such Partridges once. When shooting with my father 

 in the long lyme-grass, Elymus arenanus, behind the sand-dunes on the 

 Baltic in East Prussia, and following some single Partridges, we saw, to our 

 surprise, more than two or three hundred birds get up some hundred yards 



