

Food and Water 
During the course of the investigation 27 crops were col- 
lected from birds shot in Spain during fall and winter months. It 
was possible to get only a few of the seeds contained therein iden- 
tified in Spain, so samples were planted but only two grasses 
germinated. Many of the foods taken were subsequently identified 
as to genus at the Bureau's Patuxent Wildlife Research Station (a). 
Plant foods 
Vegetable items, particularly grain, grass shoots, clover 
leaves, vetches, knotweeds and smartweeds, bulbs and roots constitute 
the main food of Spanish red-legged partridges. Waste grains - wheat, 
oats, barley, millet, and corn - and a large variety of vetches 
(Vicia sp.), particularly algarroba or carob bean, are eagerly con- 
sumed by old and young alike. Particularly in dry country, over-ripe 
grapes mostly fallen from the vine, are acceptable, and green, leafy 
food is taken in such abundance as to provide a large part of the 
water requirements of adult partridges for a considerable period of 
time. A variety of seeds from weeds, shrubs, and trees as well as 
berries are also eaten. 
Table 1 gives a list of the items identified from the crops 
of 27 Spanish redlegs together with the number of crops in which each 
item was found. 
Animal foods 
Like the chukars, red-legged partridges eat insects, ant eggs 
and larvae, beetles, spiders, and grasshoppers, but, by volume, these 
represent a rather minor part of their food except in spring. Small 
snails are also eaten. 
Food by seasons 
| So far as could be found no records indicative of the seasonal 
food preferences of Spanish red-legged partridges have been published. 
Table 1, mentioned above, lists 32 items found during the current study 
in redleg crops in fall and winter. To supplement this and to provide 
a picture of preference during the other seasons of the year Luis 
Bernaldo de Quiros, a field naturalist and collector for the National 
Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, has considerately listed for us 
his observations on the food habits of these birds. 
(a) Mostly through the courtesy of Dr. Alexander C. Martin 
ll 
