BARBARY PARTRIDGE.

Perdix petrosa, Lath.

La Perdrix rouge de Barbarie.

AutHoucH this species is generally known by the appellation of the Barbary Partridge, from its common
occurrence on that lime of the coast of Africa, nevertheless it is equally frequent in the southern portion of
Europe which borders the Mediterranean, and in the islands of that sea; breeding abundantly among the
rocky mountains of Spain, and in the islands of Majorca and Minorca, in Sardinia, Corsica, Malta, and Sicily.
Its occurrence in France is very rare, and then only accidental, nor is it known to visit the more northern
parts of Europe.

In the general character of its plumage, the Perdiv petrosa bears a striking resemblance to the two other
species of Red-legged Partridge, which are also indigenous to Europe, but may at once be distinguished by
the rufous brown collar round the neck, thickly spotted with white points. In habits and manners it is
strictly identical with the well-known Guernsey Partridge, in the description of which we have entered more
fully into the details of the subject. The female chooses barren places and desert mountains, where among
low bushes she deposits her eggs to the number of fifteen, the colour of which is yellowish, thickly dotted
with greenish olive spots. Grain, and insects occasionally, form, as is the case with the others of the genus.
the food of this species.

The beak and a bare space round the eyes are red ; the legs, which in the male are furnished with a short
blunt spur, are also red ; irides hazel; a deep chestnut stripe commences at the gape and runs over the top
of the head to the back of the neck, where it passes off on each side, forming a collar round the neck studded
with white spots; a broad line above the eyes; the cheeks and throat are of a dull blueish-ash colour,
but the ear-feathers are reddish brown. The whole of the upper surface, with the exception of a few
blue feathers edged with red near the shoulders, is of a brownish grey. Breast dull ash-colour ; the sides
barred transversely with ferruginous brown and black on a light ground ; each feather barred with grey, black,
brown and white, ending in a band of darker ferruginous brown; the under parts light reddish-brown. Tail
chestnut. Length thirteen inches.

The female differs only in being rather smaller, the collar round the neck somewhat narrower, the general
plumage scarcely so bright, and the absence of spurs on the tarsi.

 

GREEK PARTRIDGE.

Perdix saxatilis, Meyer.

La Perdrix Bartavelle.

Or the three species of Red-legged Partridges which inhabit Europe, the present is the most rare. In size
and general colouring it is not unlike its allied congeners, which, with one from the Himalaya Mountains,
forms a beautiful group, embodying differences, we think, sufficiently marked to warrant its separation into a
new genus, distinct from that of which the Common Partridge of our corn-fields is a familiar example.

The localities of the present species are much more northern than those of the Perdiv petrosa. It inhabits
the Alps, Tyrol, and Switzerland; as well as Italy, the Archipelago, and Turkey ; frequenting the higher
regions of the mountains during the summer, and descending towards the valleys as winter approaches.
M. Temminck informs us that it breeds among the moss and herbage which covers the surface of rocks and
large stones, laying fifteen eggs or more, very much resembling those of the preceding species. The beak,
the circle round the eyes, and the legs are red ; the tarsi armed witha short blunt spur. Irides hazel ; a black
band beginning at the beak passes through the eye down each side of the neck and meets on the chest, inclosing
the cheeks and throat, which are white; the top of the head, the back of the neck, and the whole of the upper
parts of the body are of a blueish ash colour, the feathers across the shoulder having a vinous tinge; the
breast cinereous ; the sides barred as in the preceding species,—with this difference, that the black bands are
not so far apart, and the intervening space is of a delicate fawn colour; the lower part of the belly is of a
yellowish cream colour ; the tail consists of eighteen feathers, of a deep chestnut.

There is no difference between the sexes, with the exception of the female being smaller in size and destitute

of spurs.
Our Plate represents a male of each of these species, of the natural size, and in the adult plumage.