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PERDIX BAR BAT A, J. Verr. &§ O. Des Murs.
Bearded Partridge.

Perdix barbata, J. Verr. & O. Des Murs. in Proc 3
‘ 2 Des cee in Proc. of Zool. Soc., 1863,
p. 307.—G. R. Gray, Hand-list of Birds, part ii. DeOVe
Tetrao perdiv, var. daurica, Pall. Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., tom. ii. p. 78.
Perdix sibirica, Pall. Itin., p. 80.
—— (Starna) cinerea, Middendorff, Reise, Voe., p. 209.
——- daurica, David, Nouv. Archiv. du Mus. d’Hist. Nat. de Paris, tom. ili. p. 38.

pp. 62 and 371, pl. ix.—Swinh. ibid.

 

Axx ornithologists and every sportsman will at once perceive that the bird represented in the accompanying
plate typifies, in Dauria and China, the well-known Grey or Common Partridge of Europe ; but it is not
known to sportsmen generally, or those unversed in the science of ornithology, that the two birds above
mentioned and the Thibet Partridge, named Perdia Hodgsonie, are the only known species of the genus
Perdiv as now restricted. Such, however, is the case; and I may state in a few words that the three species
are each restrieted to a somewhat limited area :—the Common Partridge (Perdix cinerea) being confined,
with a trifling exception, to Central Europe; the Thibet Partridge (Perdiv Hodgsonie) to the tableland at
the back of the great Himalayan range of mountains; and the Bearded Partridge, here figured (Perdiv
barbata), is found in most, if not all, of the mountainous parts of the Altai, and thence eastward to the
neighbourhood of Peking and Tientsin, the markets of which cities are supplied with it as our own are with
the common European bird. There mark that not more than three species are known of the genus Perdiz,
is intended for the information of those who do not attend to the minute division of the forms of birds which
has of late been instituted by ornithologists ; for such persons would naturally say, ‘‘ there are many other
Partridges besides these.” True, but not of the same form—the Red-legs constituting a distinct group by
themselves under the generic title of Caccadis, the little Ammoperdiv of Persia and India another; and there
are still many more forms, which it is not necessary to enumerate here. Each of these presents some one or
more characters not common to the others. For instance, the Caccabes or Red-legs are all spurred, and the
two sexes are alike in colour; while the true Partridges (genus Perdiz) are unspurred, and the sexes are
distinguished by several particulars, the most prominent of which is the presence of a well-defined horse-shoe
like mark on the breast of the males.

Unfortunately I have nothing original to communicate respecting the habits and economy of the Bearded
Partridge ; for the little that is known respecting it I must therefore be indebted to the pens of others.

In the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London’ for 1863, MM. Jules Seas and O. Des Murs
characterized this species under the name of Perdix barbata, with a description which they say “ ws a
from a fully adult male example obtained in Central Daburia,” and state that “the bird is met wath in the
environs of the city of Nertschinsk, and in all the mining districts of Nertschinski-zawod. It evinces a
preference for quitienied fields and brushwood ; during winter it descends to mead oy: Se and
Its voice and flight are similar to those of Perdix cinerea.

Mr. Swinhoe, that gentleman says :—“ This bird was minutely
in his ‘ Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica,’ tome il.
and that it abounds

sometimes approaches the houses.

In some notes kindly furnished to me by
described by Pallas in 1811 as Tetrao perdix, Var. daurica ;
that it is found in the Altai mountains, at Jenisea, and in Dauria ;

p. 78, where he states :
xposed to the sun, and where it passes the winter in coveys,

in autumn in places among the rocks which are e oo ; pone
often hiding under the snow. At p. 80 of the same work, Pallas refers to this bird under o ee ! ae :
: ion I i ° Middendorff, in his ‘ Reise 1n den
birt / threnck ; sntion its occurrence in Amoorland. | ;
ie. . re Pe one. > 1851 (Vogel, p 209), under Perdiv (Starna) cinerea, says, * It
dussersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens, 100 gel, p. ane an neg
was only in the Baraba steppe that I stumbled upon a considerable covey 0 us spe _ adde, a
s 2 . yy) vy) *7 2 e Tale: ostIIS
‘Reisen in den Siiden von Ost-Sibirien,’ 1863, describes this Partridge as Perdiv (Starna) cinerea, var. rupestrs
daurica, Pall.
“Tn Pere Armand David’s Catalogue of Peking
Naturelle de Paris,’ tome iti. p. 38, this bird is stated to be

; ; ae
Birds in the ‘ Nouvelles Archives du Muséum d'Histoire

‘very common in Mongolia, rarer 1n our bare

: i
1 ver plains. ; : eae
mountains, never on the ple -» continues Mr. Swinhee, “is Caccabis chukar ;

i he hills near Peking
Thave met with on the bills near g, a |
Mongolian country beyond the Great Wall have informed me that
J gS C —
artridge which they took to be the ordinary Home Horseshoe.
i So . ors - . oe aes aK
ate to the Peking markets im winte1 by the

“The only Partridge
but sportsmen who have roamed about the
i aye — p

they frequently came across coveys of a I

. he ie -s in a frozen st
The Bearded Partridge 1s brought in numbers é