PERDICIN^. PERDIX. 
235 
GENUS LXXIX. PERDIX. PARTRIDGE. 
Bill short, strong, slightly curved ; upper mandible having 
its dorsal line arcuato-declinate, the edges arched, the tip 
blunt ; lower mandible with its dorsal line slightly convex, 
the edges erect or slightly involute, the tip rounded. Mouth 
rather narrow ; tongue short, triangular, flat above, fleshy, 
horny beneath, acute ; oesophagus narrow, with a large crop ; 
proventriculus bulbiform ; stomach roundish, with very large 
muscles, and dense, longitudinally rugous epithelium ; intes- 
tine long, rather wide ; coeca very long, narrow at the com- 
mencement, enlarged, and somewhat oblong. Nostrils basal, 
lateral, circular behind, linear before, operculate, the nasal 
groove very broad and feathered. Eyes rather small, eye- 
lids feathered ; a narrow space beneath the lower, and a 
larger space behind the eye and over the ear bare. Head 
small, oblong, forehead rounded ; neck short ; body full and 
large. Tarsus short, stout, moderately compressed, with two 
anterior series of scutella, the males generally with a knob 
behind ; toes rather stout, the first very short and elevated, 
the inner considerably shorter than the outer, the anterior 
webbed at the base ; claws stout, short, depressed, with con- 
vex ridge, sloping sides, and blunt point. Plumage full, the 
feathers oblong ; wings very short, broad, curved, rounded, 
the fourth and fifth quills longest ; tail short, rounded, ge- 
nerally of sixteen feathers. 
152. Perdix rubra. Red Partridge. 
Bill and feet bright red ; upper parts *reddish-brown, tinged 
with grey ; forehead ash-grey ; throat and cheeks white ; a 
black band from the bill to the eye, and thence down the neck, 
becoming broader on its fore part, which is spotted with the 
same colour ; lower parts ash-grey and light red ; sides trans- 
versely banded with ash-grey, white, black, and red ; tarsus 
of the male with a large flat tubercle. 
Male, 14, 21, 6J, 1/^, 1^, Pemale, 13. 
This species, which is common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, 
and the south of France, has been introduced into England, 
in some of the southern parts of which it is now not uncom- 
mon. It is said to prefer waste heathy ground to corn-fields, 
and to afford less sport than the common species, as it runs 
