J'V 



COMMON or GEEY PAETEIDOE. 



PERDIX CINEREA, Lath. 



Tetrao perdix, Linn. S. N. i. p. 276 (1766). 



Perdix cinerea, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. pt. 1, p. 290 (1787) ; 



Naum. vi. p. 477 ; Macg. i. p. 218 ; Hewitson, i. p. 281 ; 



Yarr. ed. 4, iii. p. 105 ; Dresser, vii. p. 131. 



Perdrix grise, French; Reb-Feldhuhn, German; Perdiz 

 gris, Pardilla, Fresana, Spanish. 



This well-known bird is to be met with more or less 

 frequently in all parts of Great Britain, except the more 

 remote groups of islands, such as the Shetlands and 

 Outer Hebrides ; and is also indigenous, although 

 comparatively scarce, in Ireland. Draining and careful 

 cultivation are very favourable to the increase of this 

 species, and under these conditions and with strict 

 preservation Partridges have, in some of our English 

 counties, become extraordinarily abundant. 



The largest bag of these birds, of which I have any 

 record, was made by seven guns on a large estate in 

 Hampshire in four consecutive days of October 1887, 

 and amounted to 4079, of which number 1337 were 

 killed in one day ; I need hardly say that these results 

 were obtained by driving. 



Our Partridge is found throughout Europe, with the 

 exception of the extreme north-east and south and the 

 islands of the Mediterranean. The plumage and size of 

 this species vary greatly according to locality, and 1 

 may say that the subjects of the accompanying Plate 

 were unusually light-coloured specimens. 



