CAUCASIAN SNOW FARTTlIDCiE. 233 



For this species and four or five others known as 

 "Snow Partridges" or "Snow Pheasants," Dr. Gray has 

 established the Genus Tetrao-g alius, signifying that it 

 is intermediate between the Grouse and Pheasant or 

 Partridge. I think, however, that the subject of the 

 present notice might have very Avell stood at the head 

 of the genus Perdix leading us from Phasianus to the 

 Francolins, and thence to the typical Partridges. As, 

 liowever, it is the rule among ornithologists to group 

 birds of similar structure and habits under a number 

 of different genera, it is not for me to complain. 



The Caucasian Snow Partridge inhabits that neutral 

 ground, half of which is in Europe, and the other in 

 Asia — the Caucasian Range. As its naine implies, it 

 is found there among the wild and desolate mountains 

 wbich are covered with perpetual snow. It is there- 

 fore difficult of access, and we find very little recorded 

 of its babits or nidification. 



The Snow Partridge, living on neutral ground, must 

 of course be classed among those birds more or less 

 common to the continents — Europe and Asia. 



Mr. Gould in his "Birds of Asia," mentions that he 

 was informed by Prince Charles Bonaparte, that "there 

 were reasons for believing that this bird occurs within 

 the confines of Europe; he did not, however, mention 

 the locality in which it has been observed." 



But surely if the bird is found in the Caucasus, or 

 as one of its names implies, on the borders of the 

 Caspian, its European locality is sufficiently indicated. 

 Mr. Gould further remarks "I had also been told by 

 an officer of one of Her Majesty's surveying ships 

 employed in the Mediterranean, whose name I cannot 

 recollect, that he himself had observed a bird of this 

 form among the mountains in the island of Candia, 

 vol in. 2 i 



