COMMON PARTRIDGE. 



341 



the irides brown : the legs greyish flesh-colour, 

 armed with a blunt tubercle. 



The female is less brilliant in colour : the wing- 

 coverts and scapulars are spotted with brown in- 

 stead of rufous : the spot on the breast, which in 

 the male resembles a horseshoe, in this is composed 

 of a series of distinct spots : in other respects she 

 resembles the male. The young when first hatched 

 have the feet yellow, getting darker by age : before 

 the first moult the whole of the plumage has a 

 tendency to grey-brown, the feathers gradually 

 assuming the proper hues that decorate the adult. 



The Partridge varies greatly, several varieties 

 being recorded by Latham, Temminck, and others: 

 the first worth noticing is much variegated, and 

 exceedingly beautiful : the crown and nape are 

 brown, marked with rufous spots ; between the 

 eyes, the chin, and throat, are of this latter colour: 

 the fore-part of the neck and breast cinereous, 

 minutely speckled with black : on the breast a 

 horseshoe mark of a rich chesnut : belly and vent 

 yellowish white : the upper parts similar to the 

 first described, but more elegantly variegated. 

 Another has the head and half of the neck brown^ 

 » ish ash-colour, marked with darker streaks : round 

 the neck a white collar: the under parts also white. 

 A third is wholly of a pale cream colour. 



The bird called the Damascus Partridge, which 

 is said to be common at certain seasons in some 

 parts of France, differs but slightly from the present 

 species, of which it may only prove a variety. 



Partridges are found throughout nearly the 

 whole of Europe, but in most abundance in the 



