The RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (_Caccabis rubra_), a species inhabiting
South-western Europe, differs from the last-mentioned bird in the deeper
shade of the red on its mantle, and in the broad stripe and spots that
adorn its neck. The back of the head and nape are bright rust-red, the
crown of the head is grey, the breast and upper belly are greyish brown,
the under belly and lower tail-covers reddish yellow; the long, light grey
feathers on the thighs are marked with whitish red and dark brown streaks,
edged with black. A white line, commencing on the brow, passes over the
eye to the sides of the throat, the centre of which is pure white. The
eye is light brown, the eye-ring cinnabar-red, beak crimson, and foot pale
carmine-red. The female is recognisable from her mate by the inferiority
of her size, and is without the spur-like wart upon her tarsus. The male
is fourteen inches and a half long and twenty broad; his wing measures six
and the tail four inches and a half.
This bird inhabits France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and the Channel
Islands, and has been recently introduced into England, where it is now
plentiful. It is more wild than the Common Partridge, and stronger on the
wing, and will run sturdily before the dogs. It prefers heaths, commons,
and waste land, but also frequents turnip fields. The nest is slightly
formed of grass and leaves, and placed in a field of corn or grass. "Two
or three instances are recorded," says Mr. Yarrell, "in which a nest with
eggs were found in the thatch, or upon the top of low stacks."
[Illustration: THE COMMON PARTRIDGE (_Perdix cinerea_, or _Starna
cinerea_). ONE-THIRD NATURAL SIZE.]
The eggs are of a reddish yellow-white, spotted and speckled with reddish
brown, one inch and seven and a half lines long, and one inch and three
lines broad, and from fifteen to eighteen in number. The young leave the
nest soon after they are hatched. Their food is the same as that of the
Common Partridge.