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The Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix, also known as the English Partridge, Hungarian Partridge or Hun is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae
Phasianidae

The Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl....
 of the order Galliformes
Galliformes

Galliformes are an order of birds containing turkey , grouse, chickens, quails, and pheasants. More than 250 living species are found worldwide....
, gallinaceous birds.

This partridge
Partridge

Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a bird migration Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails....
 breeds on farmland across most of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 into western Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, and has been introduced widely into North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and are quite common in some areas of southern Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 and the northern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. Hens lay up to twenty eggs in a ground nest.






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The Grey Partridge, Perdix perdix, also known as the English Partridge, Hungarian Partridge or Hun is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae
Phasianidae

The Phasianidae is a family of birds which consists of the pheasants and partridges, and including the junglefowl , Old World quail, francolins, monals and peafowl....
 of the order Galliformes
Galliformes

Galliformes are an order of birds containing turkey , grouse, chickens, quails, and pheasants. More than 250 living species are found worldwide....
, gallinaceous birds.

This partridge
Partridge

Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a bird migration Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails....
 breeds on farmland across most of Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
 into western Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, and has been introduced widely into North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
 and are quite common in some areas of southern Canada
Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
 and the northern United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
. 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
Winter wheat

Winter wheat is a cereal. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter wheats are planted in the autumn, from September through December. Winter wheat sprouts before freezing occurs, then becomes dormant until the soil warms up in the spring....
. It is a non-migratory
Bird migration

Bird migration refers to the regular seasonal journeys undertaken by many species of birds. Bird movements include those made in response to changes in food availability, habitat or weather....
 terrestrial species, which forms flocks outside the breeding season.

It is declining greatly in numbers in areas of intensive cultivation such as Great Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
, due to loss of breeding habitat and food supplies. The numbers have fallen by 85% in the last 25 years. Efforts are being made in Great Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
 by organizations such as the Game Conservancy Trust to halt the decline by creating Conservation headland
Conservation headland

A Conservation headland is a strip down the edge of an agricultural crop, in which pesticides have been sprayed only in a selective manner. This increases the number of weed and insect species present, and benefits the bird species that depend on them....
s. In 1995 it was nominated a Biodiversity Action plan species (see ).

The Grey Partridge is a rotund bird, 28–32 cm long, 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. The only major and constant difference between the sexes is the so-called cross of Lorraine on the tertiary coverts of females – these being 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 kieerr-ik.

When disturbed, like most of the gamebirds, it flies a short distance on rounded wings, often calling rick rick rick as it rises.

This is a seed-eating species, but the young in particular take insect
Insect

Insects are the biggest class of arthropods and the only ones with wings. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet. They are most diverse at the equator and their diversity declines toward the poles....
s as an essential protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
 supply. During the first 10 days of life, the young can only digest insects. The parents lead their chicks to the edges of cereal
Cereal

Cereals, or cereal grains, are mostly Poaceae cultivated for their edible brans or fruit seeds . Cereal grains are grown in greater quantities and provide more energy worldwide than any other type of crop; they are therefore staple foods....
 fields, where they can forage for insects.

Widespread and common throughout its large range, the Grey Partridge is evaluated as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , created in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global Conservation movement status of plant and animal species....
 of Threatened Species.

The species has been successfully introduced to many parts of the world for shooting, including vast areas of North America, where it is most commonly known as Hungarian partridge, or just "Hun".

External links

  • on the Internet Bird Collection