The CASPIAN SNOW PARTRIDGE (_Tetraogallus Caspius_), a member of the above
group, inhabiting Persia, is dark grey upon the head, nape, and upper
breast; the plumage on the back is varied grey and reddish yellow, and
the rest of the under side grey, the shafts of the feathers are streaked
longitudinally with reddish yellow. Two dark lines pass from the corners
of the lower mandible to the breast. These lines divide three white
patches, one on the throat, and one on each side of the face. The feathers
on the upper wing-covers are shaded with black and reddish yellow, with
a broad red edge at their outer web; the quills are pure white, as are
the belly and feathers of the lower tail-covers. The eye is dark brown,
the beak pale horn-grey, and the foot reddish yellow. The length is about
twenty-four inches.
This species was first described by Gmelin, in 1788-93, in the thirteenth
edition of the "Systema Naturæ." Latham, who places it among the true
Partridges, says that it inhabits Astrabad, Ghilan, and other parts of
Persia.
We are indebted to Mr. Gray, who has made for these birds the separate
generic title of _Tetraogallus_, for the following description of their
habits, derived from the _St. Petersburg Transactions:_--"This species
builds on the highest summits of the rocky mountains of the Caucasus. It
prefers altogether the region of snow, which it never quits. Thus, when we
desired to acclimatise the young chickens of this Partridge in the plains
of Kahetia, they have not survived the spring. It runs on the rocks and
the ledges of precipices with great agility, and rises with a great cry
at the least danger; so that the most skilful sportsman cannot approach
within shot except under cover of mists. It lives in societies of from six
to ten, becoming the inseparable companion to the goat, on the excrement
of which it feeds during the winter months. In autumn it grows very fat,
and its flesh resembles that of the Common Partridge. In the crop of this
gallinaceous bird I have found a quantity of sand and small stones, mixed
with all kinds of seeds of Alpine plants."
The following passage in Layard's "Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh
and Babylon" seems also to refer to this species:--"A covey of large
birds sailed with a rapid swoop, with the whistling sound peculiar to the
Partridge kind, from an opposite height, and alighted within a few yards
of me. They were the _Kabk-i-dered_, or the _Pur-kak-lik_, as they are
called by the Turks, a gigantic Partridge, almost the size of a small
Turkey, only found in the highest regions of Armenia and Kurdistan."
Prince Charles Bonaparte thought that there was some reason for believing
that this species exists on the confines of Europe, and a correspondent
of Mr. Gould's observed it among the mountains of Candia, where it was
excessively rare, and only to be seen on the peaks of the hills.
In the Zoological Gardens, London, two specimens were received, one in
1842, and another about 1852, both of which lived there for several years.