oN 

“Spring -- According to Quiros, insects - ant eggs and larvae, 
beetles, and in the late spring, grasshoppers - form a considerable part 
of the redlegs' diet. New buds of algarroba or carol bean (Vicia sp.), 
poppy leaves and other green food are also eagerly sought after. 
Summer -- Quiros indicates that insects become progressively 
less important, except to the chicks, at this season. Horse beans, 
tares, carob beans, and the fruit of other vetches appear more commonly 
in the crop contents. With the harvesting of grain in August, stubble 
fields are much frequented. 
Fall -- Wherever fields are turned over, the partridges 
may be found in the freshly plowed furrows hunting insects and seeds. 
On recently planted grain fields they will be found eagerly searching 
for seeds left on the ground but will not scratch out well-planted 
grain. Some sprouted seeds, especially wheat and rye, may also be 
clipped off or pulled up at this season, although not in sufficient 
quantities to create a nuisance unless the birds are overly abundant. 
In brushy or wooded areas weed seeds, vetches, blackberries, goose- 
berries, acorns, the seeds of a large species of "spear-plumed" 
thistle, and the fruits of the mastic tree are sought after according 
to Quiros. In the vineyards, over-ripe grapes are much in demand. 

Of the 16 birds' crops gathered by the author in November 
in south-central Spain, 8 were notable for the large volume of a 
single food that was found therein. Two contained mostly grapes; 
two, mainly carob beans; one, barley; one, mostly grass seeds; and 
two, mainly grass leaves with some green shoots of winter wheat. 
A. D. Middleton (4) examined 29 crops of French red-legged 
partridges shot in southern England in September and October and 
reported the food as follows: grass, clover and other leaves, 16%; 
sugar beet roots, 28.2%; cereals (barley, wheat, and oats), 27.4%; 
weed seeds, especially of knotweed and bindweed, 22.6%; and beechnuts, 
5.8%. For the sake of comparison,in table 2 are listed the foods 
found by him and the number of crops in which each item was observed. 
Winter -- Quiros reports winter food to be much the same 
as that consumed in the fall with emphasis on carob bean, seeds of 
the mastic tree, and waste grain, weed seeds and green food including 
grain sprouts, clover, and alfalfa. 
Water 
Like many birds of dry countries, the adult Spanish redlegs 
can survive periods of.several months with very little access to open 
“water providing green food is present. Ideally, however, some permanent 
source of drinking water should be available within a few miles of the 
normal range of.every bird. Broods of young birds are seldom found 
far from water, even though it be only a seep at the foot of a hill. 
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