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BARBARY PARTRIDGE. 
Perdix petrosa, LATHAM. 
Perdiz—A Partridge. Petrosa—Of the rocks—Rocky. 
THe Barbary Partridge, as its name conveys, is found on 
the north-western and northern coasts of Africa, from Senegal 
to Morocco, Barbary, and Algeria, where it is said to be very 
common. It is found also in the islands of the Mediterranean, 
‘Majorea, Minorea, Corsica, Malta, Sardinia, and Sicily; in 
Europe also in Spain, France, Italy, and Greece; and in Asia 
in the region of the Caucasus. 
A specimen of this species, a female, was found dead in a 
field at Edwardthorpe, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, 
in April, 1842. It had every appearance of being a wild 
bird. About the same period another was shot by a nobleman 
on the estate of the Marquis of Hertford, at Sudbourn, in 
Suffolk. It appears that about the year 1770, some eggs 
had been imported into that part of the country by the 
then Marquis and Lord Rendlesham. Edwards wrote in 1802 
that they were frequently brought over. This one may 
therefore have been a descendant of some of these, or itself 
a ‘Sallee Rover,’ but of the most harmless kind. 
These birds go in flocks, frequenting all places that afford 
them cover, and even comé into gardens. They are, however, 
shy in their habits. They are eaten as food, though not of 
any superior quality. 
They feed on grain, seeds, and insects. 
They build in barren places and desert mountains, among 
low bushes on the ground. 
The eggs are as many as fifteen, of a dull yellowish colour, 
thickly dotted with greenish olive spots. 
Mr. Couch says of one of these birds which he had, that 
it possessed great strength in its legs, especially in leaping 
