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Grey partridge
Male at Turvey, near Dublin, Ireland
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	Perdix
Species:	P. perdix
Binomial name
Perdix perdix (Linnaeus, 1758)
Subspecies
8, see text
Range of P. perdix   Native range  Introduced range
Synonyms
Tetrao perdix Linnaeus, 1758

The grey partridge (Perdix perdix) is a bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. The scientific name is the Latin for "partridge", and like the English name, is derived from Ancient Greek πέρδιξ "perdix".

Description

The grey partridge is a rotund bird, brown-backed, with grey flanks and chest. The belly is white, usually marked with a large chestnut-brown horse-shoe mark in males, and also in many females. Hens lay up to twenty eggs in a ground nest. The nest is usually in the margin of a cereal field, most commonly winter wheat.

Measurements:

• Length: 29–31 cm (11–12 in)
• Wingspan: 45–48 cm (18–19 in)
• Weight (P. p. perdix): 320–455 g (11.3–16.0 oz)
• Weight (P. p. robusta): 350–600 g (12–21 oz)

Males and females are the same size, and very similar in plumage, though the females tend to be slightly duller, and have a smaller dark belly patch. In the hand, the so-called "cross of Lorraine" on the tertiary coverts of females are marked with two transverse bars, as opposed to the one in males. These are present after around 16 weeks of age when the birds have moulted into adult plumage. Young grey partridges are mostly yellow-brown and lack the distinctive face and underpart markings. The song is a harsh, high-pitched kieerr-ik. When disturbed, like most gamebirds, it flies a short distance on rounded wings, often calling rick rick rick as it rises.

They are a seed-eating species, but the young in particular take insects as an essential protein supply. During the first 10 days of life, the young can only digest insects. The parents lead their chicks to the edges of cereal fields, where they can forage for insects.

Distribution

Widespread and common throughout much of its range, the grey partridge is evaluated as "of Least Concern" on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. However, it has suffered a serious decline in the UK, and in 2015 appeared on the "Birds of Conservation Concern" Red List. This partridge breeds on farmland across most of Europe and across the western Palearctic as far as southwestern Siberia; it is a non-migratory terrestrial species, and forms flocks of up to 30 outside of the breeding season.

It has been introduced widely as a gamebird into Canada, United States, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. A popular gamebird in large areas of North America, it is sometimes known there as "Hungarian partridge" or just "hun".

Status and conservation

Though common and not threatened, it is declining in numbers in some areas of intensive cultivation such as the United Kingdom, due to a loss of breeding habitat and insecticides harming insect numbers, an important food source for the species. Their numbers have fallen in these areas by as much as 85% in the last 25 years. Efforts are being made in the United Kingdom by organizations such as the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust to halt this decline by creating conservation headlands.

In 1995, it was nominated a Biodiversity action plan (BAP) species. In Ireland, it is now virtually confined to the Lough Boora reserve in County Offaly where a recent conservation project has succeeded in boosting its numbers to around 900, raising hopes that it may be reintroduced to the rest of Ireland.

Subspecies

Eight subspecies are accepted by the IOC World Bird List, though the differences are clinal, and not all are accepted by other authorities; the HBW/BirdLife International list only accepts six subspecies; the differences noted below:

• P. p. perdix (Linnaeus, 1758). Nominate, found in the British Isles and southern Scandinavia to Italy and the Balkans.
• P. p. armoricana (Hartert, 1917). Southwestern France.
• P. p. sphagnetorum (Altum, 1894). On peaty soils in the northern part of the Netherlands and northwest Germany. Barely distinct from P. p. perdix and included in it by HBW/BLI.
• P. p. hispaniensis (Reichenow, 1892). Central Pyrenees to northeast Portugal
• P. p. italica (Hartert, 1917). Included in P. p. perdix by HBW/BLI. Formerly extinct in the wild, now reintroduced.
• P. p. lucida (Altum, 1894). Finland east to the Ural Mountains and south to Black Sea and northern Caucasus.
• P. p. canescens (Burturlin, 1906). Turkey east to the South Caucasus and northwest Iran.
• P. p. robusta (Homeyer and Tancré, 1883). The Ural Mountains to southwestern Siberia and northwestern China. The largest subspecies.

• P. p. perdix, male, in northern Greece
• P. p. perdix, female, in southwest Sweden
• Group in flight, northern Greece
• Perdix perdix hispaniensis, museum specimen, MHNT
• Egg, in the Museum Wiesbaden collection
• Grey partridge on 1957 postage stamp of the Soviet Union

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "Perdix perdix". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22678911A85929015. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22678911A85929015.en. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
2. Lockwood, William Burley (1984). The Oxford Book of British Bird Names. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-214155-4.
3. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 297. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. ^ Cramp, Stanley (1980). Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Vol. II Hawks to Bustards. Oxford London New York: Oxford university press. p. 486–496. ISBN 0-19-857505-X.
5. ^ Svensson, L., Mullarney, K., & Zetterström, D. (2022) Collins Bird Guide, ed. 3. ISBN 978-0-00-854746-2, pages 58-59
6. "BoCC4 Red List" (PDF). Birds of Conservation Concern. Retrieved 2015-12-25.
7. Long, John L. (1981). Introduced Birds of the World. Agricultural Protection Board of Western Australia. pp. 21–493.
8. Lee, George (5 September 2019). "Grey Partridge population on the increase". RTE. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
9. ^ "Pheasants, partridges, francolins – IOC World Bird List". IOC World Bird List – Version 14.2. 2024-08-17. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
10. ^ "HBW / BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v9" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-11-30.
11. Bot, Sander; Jansen, Justin J F J (2013-01-01). "Is Peat Partridge a valid subspecies of Grey Partridge?". Dutch Birding. 35 (3): 155–168. ISSN 0167-2878. Retrieved 2024-11-30.
12. "Welcome back Perdix perdix italica!". Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale. Retrieved 2021-12-13.

External links

• BirdLife species factsheet for Perdix perdix
• Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust - Grey Partridge
• "Grey partridge media". Internet Bird Collection.
• Gray Partridge Species Account – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.6 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze
• Feathers of Grey partridge (Perdix perdix) Archived 2018-03-27 at the Wayback Machine

Links to related articles

v t e Game animals and shooting in the United Kingdom Game birds Common pheasant Grey partridge Red-legged partridge Red grouse Rock ptarmigan Black grouse Eurasian woodcock Common snipe Quarry species Mallard Teal Wood pigeon Golden plover Canada goose Greylag goose Pink-footed goose Eurasian wigeon Tufted duck Northern shoveler Northern pintail Gadwall Common pochard Common goldeneye Common moorhen Eurasian coot Deer Red deer Roe deer European fallow deer Sika deer Reeves's muntjac Water deer Other quarry European hare Red fox European rabbit Opponents League Against Cruel Sports Animal Aid Law Game Act 1831 Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act 2002 Hunting Act 2004 See also British Association for Shooting and Conservation Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust Countryside Alliance Driven grouse shooting Glorious Twelfth Gamekeepers in the United Kingdom Deer stalking Deer forest Rarely shot because of declining numbers. v t e Game animals and shooting in North America Game birds Bobwhite quail Chukar Hungarian partridge Prairie chicken Mourning dove Ring-necked pheasant Ptarmigan Ruffed grouse Sharp-tailed grouse Snipe (common snipe) Spruce grouse Turkey Woodcock Waterfowl Black duck Canada goose Canvasback Gadwall Greater scaup Lesser scaup Mallard Northern pintail Redhead Ross's goose Snow goose Wood duck Big game Bighorn sheep Black bear Razorback Brown bear Bison (buffalo) Caribou Cougar (mountain lion) Elk Moose White-tailed deer Wolf Mountain goat Mule deer Pronghorn Muskox Dall sheep Polar bear Whales Other quarry American alligator Badger Bobcat Coyote Fox squirrel Gray fox Gray squirrel Opossum Rabbit Raccoon Red fox Snowshoe hare See also Bear hunting Big-game hunting Bison hunting Deer hunting Fox hunting Waterfowl hunting Whaling Fishing Wolf hunting Upland hunting v t e Poultry Species Chicken Duck Goose Guineafowl Domestic pigeon Japanese quail Muscovy duck Puna ibis Turkey Breeds Chicken breeds Duck breeds Turkey breeds Goose breeds Pigeon breeds Diseases Fowlpox Malaria Scaly leg White striping Poultry farming Antibiotics Battery cage Blinders Cannibalism in poultry Chicken eyeglasses Chick culling Chick sexing Chicken coop Chicken harvester Debeaking Forced molting Free range Free-range eggs Furnished cages Hatchery Hock burns Organic egg production Pastured poultry Poultry litter In the United States Yarding

• IUCN Red List least concern species
• Game birds
• Perdix
• Birds of Europe
• Birds of Central Asia
• Birds of North America
• Birds described in 1758
• Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus