National Characters
Kurdish National Birds |
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Red-legged partridge
Red-legged
partridge with scientific name "Alectoris
rufa" calls "Kew, kev, Kewk,
keví, and kevkí" in Kurdish.
Red-legged partridge is normally
thirteen inches in length, but
does not mention either its
breadth or weight. The bill,
legs, and orbits are red; the
irides hazel; chin and throat
dull white, surrounded by a
black line or streak, which
passes from the brow and
nostrils to the eyes, behind
which it continues, falls down
before the auriculars, and meets
on the lower part of the neck: a
white streak extends from the
brow over the eyes towards the
hinder part of the neck; the
forehead is bluish ash, fading
into a rusty chesnut behind,
where the feathers are somewhat
elongated, and can be erected or
depressed at pleasure; the
hinder part of the neck is rusty
chesnut, formed into a stripe,
which falls down towards the
shoulders; the rest of the neck
is pale ash, inclining to blue,
with numerous longish spots of
black; below this, to the
shoulders and breast, the
plumage is rusty brown, with a
vinous reflection; the belly and
thighs pale rusty chesnut; the
breast pale lead grey; sides
beautifully ornamented with
stripes composed of black,
bright reddish chesnut, and
white; the upper parts of the
plumage are rufous brown,
somewhat tinged with olive grey;
quills nearly the same, but
darker, the outer edges
yellowish; vent brownish ash:
the tail consists of sixteen
feathers, the middle ones
greyish brown, the outer ones
deep reddish chesnut; under
coverts of the tail nearly the
same: the legs are furnished
with a kind of double knob
instead of a spur.
These
birds are found in various parts
of Kurdistan; and are common in
Germany, France, and Italy; the
islands of Madeira, Guernsey and
Jersey; but the accounts of
their breeding in England, are
contradictory. In a wild state,
they prefer woody and heathy
wastes, to in closed ground, but
they are easily tamed, and soon
become offensively familiar. |