248 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
Partridge, and is easily distinguishable in appear- 
ance. It has a white throat, followed by a con- 
spicuous black band, with radiating lines beneath, 
and the flanks are very conspicuously barred with 
semicircular, wave-like marks of white, black, and 
chestnut. The back is clear brown, much less 
mottled than in the native species. The nest is a 
shallow hollow in the ground among grass, some 
green standing crop, or scrubby vegetation, and 
the ten to eighteen eggs, considerably larger than 
those of the Common Partridge, are pale, sandy 
yellow, freckled with light reddish-brown. The 
birds begin to lay in April. They are more often 
seen perching on palings, walls, or even trees, than 
the Common Partridge, which is only rarely to be 
seen on a fence, and never in a tree, while they 
also nest occasionally on the top of a stack. The 
food is of the same mixed insect and vegetable 
character as that of the kindred species. In spite 
of its name of Guernsey Partridge it is not a 
native bird in the Channel Islands. In shooting 
over dogs it has a troublesome way of running, 
rather then take wing ; and it is not such a good 
bird to eat as our native species, its flesh being, 
by comparison, hard and dry. 
