236 
PERDICINiE. PERDIX. COTURNIX. 
before tlie dogs, the individuals composing a covey dispersing, 
and rising one after another. 
Red-legged Partridge. Guernsey Partridge. Prench Par- 
tridge. 
Perdix rubra, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. ii. 485. — Perdix ru- 
bra, Red Partridge, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 215. 
153. Perdix cinerea. Grey Partridge. 
Male with the bill and feet greyish-blue ; upper parts mi- 
nutely barred with ash-grey, yellowish-brown, brownish-black, 
and brownish-red ; scapulars and wing-coverts darker, with 
longitudinal whitish streaks ; forehead, cheeks, and throat 
light red ; neck ash-grey, minutely undulated with black ; 
sides broadly banded with brownish-red, of which there is a 
large patch on the breast. Female similarly coloured, but 
with the upper parts more brown, their markings larger, the 
top of the head streaked with yellowish, and the spot on the 
breast smaller. 
Male, 12i, 20, 6-J, Female, 12, 19. 
Generally distributed, and permanently resident, the Grey 
Partridge, although not peculiar to cultivated land, thrives 
best in those parts which are most extensively covered with 
crops. It is fond of rambling into waste or pasture grounds, 
which are covered with long grass, furze, or broom ; but it 
seldom enters woods, and never perches on trees. Its flight 
is direct, performed by rapid flaps, producing a whirring noise. 
It runs with great speed ; feeds on grass, corn, grain, pease, 
field beans, seeds of various plants, insects, pupse, and larvae ; 
and reposes at night on the ground, generally in an open place. 
In winter the Partridges keep in coveys, but separate and 
pair early in spring. The nest is a slight hollow, with some 
straws ; the eggs from ten to fifteen, are pale greenish or yel- 
lowish-brown, an inch and a half long, an inch and a twelfth 
in breadth. 
Common Partridge. 
Tetrao Perdix, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 256. — Perdix cinerea, 
Temm. Man. d’Ornith. ii. 488. — Perdix cinerea, Grey Par- 
tridge, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 218. 
GENUS LXXX. COTURNIX. QUAIL. 
Bill very short, compressed ; upper mandible with its dor- 
sal line sloping at the bffse, then arcuato-declinate, the edges 
direct, arched, the tip very narrow ; lower mandible with its 
