Editing Grey partridge

{{short description|Species of bird}}
{{For|the South Asian species|Grey francolin}}
{{Speciesbox
| name = Grey partridge
| image = Perdix perdix Turvey 3.jpg
| image_caption = Male at Turvey, near Dublin, Ireland
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 12 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=BirdLife International |date=2016 |title=''Perdix perdix'' |volume=2016 |page=e.T22678911A85929015 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22678911A85929015.en |access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref>
| genus = Perdix
| species = perdix
| authority = ([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])
| subdivision_ranks = Subspecies
| subdivision = 8, see [[#Subspecies|text]]
| range_map = Verbreitungskarte Rebhuhn.jpg
| range_map_caption = Range of ''P. perdix'' {{leftlegend|#E8CF5E|Native range|outline=gray}}{{leftlegend|#D090BE|Introduced range|outline=gray}}
| synonyms = ''Tetrao perdix'' <small>[[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]]</small>
}}

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".

==Taxonomy==
The grey partridge [[Species description|formally described]] in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]] in the [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|tenth edition]] of his ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' under the [[binomial nomenclature|binomial name]] ''Tetrao perdix''. Linnaeus specified the [[type locality (biology)|type locality]] as Europe but this has been restricted to Sweden. <ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first=Carl | author-link=Carl Linnaeus | year=1758 | title= Systema Naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis | volume=1 | edition=10th | page=160 | publisher=Laurentii Salvii | location=Holmiae (Stockholm) | language=Latin | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/727067 }}</ref><ref>{{ cite book | editor-last=Peters | editor-first=James Lee | editor-link=James L. Peters | year=1934 | title=Check-List of Birds of the World | volume=2 | publisher=Harvard University Press | location=Cambridge, Massachusetts  | page=88 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/14482901 }}</ref> The word ''perdix'' is [[Latin]] meaning "partridge", from [[Ancient Greek]] περδιξ/''perdix'' meaning "partridge".<ref>{{ cite web | last=Jobling | first=James A. | title=perdix | work=The Key to Scientific Names | url=https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/key-to-scientific-names/search?q=perdix | publisher=Cornell Lab of Ornithology | access-date=18 February 2025 }}</ref> The grey partridge together with the [[Daurian partridge]] and the [[Tibetan partridge]] are now placed in the genus ''[[Perdix]]'' that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist [[Mathurin Jacques Brisson]].<ref name=ioc>{{cite web| editor1-last=Gill | editor1-first=Frank | editor1-link=Frank Gill (ornithologist) | editor2-last=Donsker | editor2-first=David | editor3-last=Rasmussen | editor3-first=Pamela | editor3-link=Pamela C. Rasmussen | date=August 2024 | title=Pheasants, partridges, francolins | work=IOC World Bird List Version 14.2 | url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/pheasants/ | publisher=International Ornithologists' Union | access-date=19 February 2025}}</ref>

===Subspecies===
Eight [[subspecies]] are recognised by the IOC World Bird List,<ref name=ioc/> though the differences are clinal, and not all are accepted by other authorities; the HBW/BirdLife International list only accepts six subspecies;<ref name="HBW">{{cite web | title=HBW / BirdLife Taxonomic Checklist v9 | url=https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/Handbook%20of%20the%20Birds%20of%20the%20World%20and%20BirdLife%20International%20Digital%20Checklist%20of%20the%20Birds%20of%20the%20World_Version_9.pdf | access-date=2024-11-30}}</ref> the differences noted below:
* ''P. p. perdix'' <small>([[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[10th edition of Systema Naturae|1758]])</small>. Nominate, found in the [[British Isles]] and southern [[Scandinavia]] to [[Italy]] and the [[Balkans]].
* ''P. p. armoricana'' <small>([[Ernst Hartert|Hartert]], 1917)</small>. Southwestern [[France]].
* ''P. p. sphagnetorum'' <small>([[Bernard Altum|Altum]], 1894)</small>. 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.<ref name=ioc/><ref name="HBW"/><ref>{{cite journal | last=Bot | first=Sander | last2=Jansen | first2=Justin J F J | title=Is Peat Partridge a valid subspecies of Grey Partridge? | journal=Dutch Birding | volume=35 | issue=3 | date=2013-01-01 | issn=0167-2878 | pages=155–168 | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328315515_Is_Peat_Partridge_a_valid_subspecies_of_Grey_Partridge | access-date=2024-11-30}}</ref>
* ''P. p. hispaniensis'' <small>([[Anton Reichenow|Reichenow]], 1892)</small>. Central [[Pyrenees]] to northeast [[Portugal]]
* ''P. p. italica'' <small>(Hartert, 1917)</small>. Included in ''P. p. perdix'' by HBW/BLI.<ref name="HBW"/> Formerly extinct in the wild, now reintroduced.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Welcome back Perdix perdix italica!|url=https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/en/news/welcome-back-perdix-perdix-italica|access-date=2021-12-13|website=Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale|language=en}}</ref>
* ''P. p. lucida'' <small>([[Bernard Altum|Altum]], 1894)</small>. [[Finland]] east to the [[Ural Mountains]] and south to [[Black Sea]] and northern [[Caucasus]].
* ''P. p. canescens'' <small>([[Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin|Burturlin]], 1906)</small>. [[Turkey]] east to the [[South Caucasus]] and northwest [[Iran]].
* ''P. p. robusta'' <small>([[Eugen Ferdinand von Homeyer|Homeyer]] and [[Rudolf Tancré|Tancré]], 1883)</small>. The [[Ural Mountains]] to southwestern [[Siberia]] and northwestern [[China]]. The largest subspecies.<ref name="BWP"/>

==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''':<ref name="BWP">{{cite book | last=Cramp | first=Stanley | title=Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa |volume=II Hawks to Bustards | publisher=Oxford university press | publication-place=Oxford London New York | date=1980 | isbn=0-19-857505-X | page=486–496 }}</ref>
* '''Length''': {{convert|29|-|31|cm|abbr=on}}
* '''Wingspan''': {{convert|45|-|48|cm|abbr=on}}
* '''Weight''' (''P. p. perdix''): {{convert|320|-|455|g|abbr=on}}
* '''Weight''' (''P. p. robusta''): {{convert|350|-|600|g|abbr=on}}

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.<ref name="Collins">[[Lars Svensson (ornithologist)|Svensson, L.]], [[Killian Mullarney|Mullarney, K.]], & [[Dan Zetterström|Zetterström, D.]] (2022) ''[[Collins Bird Guide]]'', ed. 3. {{ISBN|978-0-00-854746-2}}, pages 58–59</ref> 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.{{cn|date=November 2024}} 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.<ref name="Collins"/> 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.<ref name="Collins"/>

They are a seed-eating species, but the young in particular take [[insect]]s 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 [[United Kingdom|UK]], and in 2015 appeared on the "Birds of Conservation Concern" Red List.<ref name="BOCC">{{cite web|url=http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/shared_documents/publications/birds-conservation-concern/birds-of-conservation-concern-4-leaflet.pdf|title=BoCC4 Red List|access-date=2015-12-25|publisher=Birds of Conservation Concern}}</ref> This partridge breeds on farmland across most of [[Europe]] and across the western [[Palearctic]] as far as southwestern Siberia; it is a [[bird migration|non-migratory]] terrestrial species, and forms flocks of up to 30 outside of the breeding season.

It has been introduced widely as a [[Game (hunting)|gamebird]] into [[Canada]], [[United States]], [[South Africa]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=John L. |year=1981 |title=Introduced Birds of the World |publisher=Agricultural Protection Board of Western Australia |pages=21–493}}</ref> A popular gamebird in large areas of North America, it is sometimes known there as "Hungarian partridge" or just "hun".{{cn|date=November 2024}}

==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.{{CN|date=February 2025}} Efforts are being made in the [[United Kingdom]] by organizations such as the [[Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust]] to halt this decline by creating [[conservation headland]]s.

In 1995, it was nominated a [[Biodiversity action plan|Biodiversity action plan (BAP)]] species. In [[Ireland]], it is now virtually confined to the [[Boora bog|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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Grey Partridge population on the increase |url=https://www.rte.ie/news/environment/2019/0905/1074158-grey-partridges/ |website=RTE |date=5 September 2019 |access-date=5 September 2020 |last1=Lee |first1=George }}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Perdix perdix}}
* {{BirdLife|22678911|Perdix perdix}}
* [http://www.gwct.org.uk/greypartridge Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust - Grey Partridge]
* {{InternetBirdCollection|grey-partridge-perdix-perdix}}
* [http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Gray_Partridge.html Gray Partridge Species Account] – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141202063037/http://aulaenred.ibercaja.es/wp-content/uploads/143_GreyPartridgePperdix.pdf Ageing and sexing (PDF; 2.6 MB) by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze]
* [http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Perdix_perdix/Perdix_perdix.htm Feathers of Grey partridge (Perdix perdix)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327083228/http://www.ornithos.de/Ornithos/Feather_Collection/Perdix_perdix/Perdix_perdix.htm |date=2018-03-27 }}

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[[Category:Game birds]]
[[Category:Perdix|grey partridge]]
[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of Central Asia]]
[[Category:Birds of North America]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758|grey partridge]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]