pair of spurs (though others of the genus have two), and has the tail longer than true partridges. This spe- cies is valued for the table, is of handsome plumage, and common from Spain and France, on both sides of the Mediterranean, eastward to Bengal. The partridge is a third genus, reckoning in Syria the two species be- fore named, both red-legged and furnished with orange and black crescents on the sides; but the other mark- ings differ, and the Barbary species is smaller than the Greek. They are inferior in delicacy to the common partridge, and it is probable that Perdix riifa and the Caspian partridge, both resembling the former in many particulars, are no strangers in Sj'ria. The expostula- tion of David with Saul, where he says, " The king of Israel is come out to seek a flea, as when one doth hunt a partridge on the mountains," is perfecth' natural ; for the red-legged partridges are partial to upland brush- wood, which is not an uncommon character of the hills and mountains of Palestine; and the kort sitting on her eggs and not hatching them (Jer. xvii, 11) alludes to the liability of the nest being trodden under foot, or robbed by carnivorous animals, notwithstanding all the care and interesting manoeuvres of the parent birds to save it or the brood ; for this genus is monogamous, nestles on the ground, and both male and female sit and anxiouslj' watch over the safety of their young. This explanation renders it unnecessary to resort to ex])loded notions drawn from the ancients. Little regard is paid to specific and generic identity by the rabbinical and Arabian writers. The name KT", hore, is, we think, derived from the voice of a bird, and more than one spe- cies of bustard is thereby indicated in various tongues to the extremity of Africa and of India ; among which Otis cory and Otis A rubs are so called at this day, al- though the first mentioned resides on the plains of Western India, the second in Arabia. Both these, how- ever, appear to be the same species. '■ Cory" is like- wise applied in Caffraria to a bustard, which from an indigenous word has been converted by the Dutch into knor/iaan. Notwithstanding the pretended etymology of the word, by which it is made to indicate a long beak, none of the genus, not even Otis Denhami (a large bird of Northern Africa), has it long, it being, in fact, middle-sized in all. Thus it would appear that the type of the name belongs to Otis, and it might be main- tained that species of that genus were known to the Hebrews, by their name korv, were it not for the fact that birds bearing this name were hunted by the He- brews, which could not well have been the case had they not included other genera ; for bustards, being without a hind toe, were considered unclean, while par- tridges, having it, were clean. The ganga, or katta, being provided with a small, incomplete one, may have offered an instance where the judgment of the )iriesthood must have decided (Kitto). See Unclean (Birds).
The lollowing account of the bird denoted by the Heb. kore, taken from Tristram's Naf. Hist, of the Bi- ble, s. v., is probably the most correct : " The commonest partridge of the Holy Land is the Greek partridge {Caccabis saxatilis), a bird somewhat resembling our red-legged partridge in plumage, with the richly barred feathers on the flanks, and deep-red legs and bill, but much larger, approaching the pheasant in size, and very distinct in habits from our gray partridge. In every part of the hill country, whether wooded or bare, it abounds, and its ringing call-note in early morning echoes from cliff to cliff alike amid the barrenness of the hills of Jnilwa and in the glens of the forest of Carmel. The male birds will stand erect on some boulder, sending their cheery challenge to some rival across tlio wady, till, the moment they perceive them- selves detected, they drop down from their throne and scud up the hill faster than any dog, screening them- selves from sight liy any projecting rock as they run. The coveys in autumn are very large ; but the birds do
PARTRIDGE
714
PARTY- SPIRIT
Greek Parti idge (Caccabis .'Saxatili)s).
not pack very much in winter, probably from the ne- cessity of dispcrsliic; themselves to obtain food. In the wilder parts of Galilee the Greek partridge is especiallj' abundant. The Syrian bird is, I am inclined to be- lieve, a distinct variety from any other. In coloration it closely resembles the Indian Chukor partridge, but it is much larger, exceeding even the specimens from con- tinental Greece in size, and it has a deeper black gorget than the bird from other countries. AVhether it be a species or variety, the Syrian bird is undoubtedly the largest and the finest of all the true partridges. The Greek partridge inhabits a wide range from east to west, extending from Galicia, in the west of Spain, through the Pyrenees and Alps to Greece, Asia Minor, Persia, and Northern India — at least, the species of all these coimtries are very closely allied.
"The true partridge of the wilderness is another and very different bird (^ mmoperdix Heyi), decidedly small-
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Desert Partridge {Ammoperdix Heiji).