View source for Grey partridge

{{For|the South Asian species|Grey francolin}}
{{Taxobox
| name = Grey partridge
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| status_ref = <ref>{{IUCN|id=22678911 |title=''Perdix perdix'' |assessor=BirdLife International |assessor-link=BirdLife International |version=2013.2 |year=2012 |accessdate=26 November 2013}}</ref>
| image = Perdix_perdix_(Marek_Szczepanek).jpg
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[bird|Aves]]
| ordo = [[Galliformes]]
| familia = [[Phasianidae]]
| subfamilia = [[Perdicinae]]
| genus = ''[[Perdix]]''
| species = '''''P. perdix'''''
| binomial = ''Perdix perdix''
| binomial_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}}
}}

The '''grey [[partridge]]''' (''Perdix perdix''), also known as the '''English partridge''', '''Hungarian partridge''', or '''hun''', is a [[gamebird]] in the pheasant family [[Phasianidae]] of the order [[Galliformes]], gallinaceous birds. The scientific name is the [[Latin]] for "partridge", and is itself derived from  [[Ancient Greek]]  ''perdix''.<ref name= job90>{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | publisher = Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 |page =297}}</ref>

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|accessdate=2015-12-25|publisher=Birds of Conservation Concern}}</ref> This partridge breeds on farmland across most of [[Europe]] into western [[Asia]], and has been introduced widely into [[Canada]], [[United States]], [[South Africa]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]].<ref name=Long1981/> A popular gamebird in vast areas of North America, it is commonly known as "Hungarian partridge" or just "hun".

[[File:Perdix perdix Sri Mesh.jpg|thumbnail|upright|left|Uncommon grey partridge in [[Alberta]], [[Canada]]<ref name=Sibley2003/>]]

The grey partridge is a rotund bird, {{convert|28|–|32|cm|in|abbr=on}} 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. 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]]. 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'', and when disturbed, like most of the 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 [[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. They are also a [[bird migration|non-migratory]] terrestrial species, and form flocks outside the breeding season. Though common and not threatened, it appears to be declining in numbers in some areas of intensive cultivation such as [[Great Britain]], probably due to a loss of breeding habitat and possibly food supplies. Their numbers have fallen in these areas by as much as 85% in the last 25 years. Efforts are being made in [[Great Britain]] 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 (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 900, raising hopes that it may be reintroduced to the rest of Ireland.

==Subspecies==
There are eight recognized [[subspecies]]:
* ''P. p. perdix'' <small>(Linnaeus, 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> – found locally in [[France]]
* ''P. p. sphagnetorum'' <small>(Altum, 1894)</small> – found in the moors of the northern part of the [[Netherlands]] and northwest [[Germany]]
* ''P. p. hispaniensis'' <small>[[Anton Reichenow|Reichenow]], 1892</small>: Iberian partridge, found from central [[Pyrenees]] to northeast [[Portugal]]
* ''P. p. italica'' <small>Hartert, 1917</small> – Italian grey partridge, extinct
* ''P. p. lucida'' <small>([[Bernard Altum|Altum]], 1894)</small> – eastern grey partridge, found from [[Finland]] east to [[Ural Mountains]] and south to [[Black Sea]] and northern [[Caucasus]]
* ''P. p. canescens'' <small>[[Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin|Burturlin]], 1906</small> – southern grey partridge, found from [[Turkey]] east to the [[South Caucasus]] and northwest [[Iran]]
* ''P. p. robusta'' <small>[[Eugen Ferdinand von Homeyer|Homeyer]] and Tancré, 1883</small> – southeastern grey partridge, found from the [[Ural Mountains]] to southwestern [[Siberia]] and northwestern [[China]]

[[File:Perdix perdix MWNH 2036.JPG|left|thumb|upright|Egg, Collection [[Museum Wiesbaden]]]]

==References==
<!-- BiolConserv6:213. -->
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=Long1981>{{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>

<ref name=Sibley2003>{{Cite book |last=Sibley |first=David Allen |authorlink=David Allen Sibley |title=The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America |edition=A Chanticleer Press |publisher=Knopf |year=2003 |page=122 |isbn=0-679-45121-8 }}</ref>
}}

==External links==
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{{commons category|Perdix perdix}}
{{wikispecies|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
* [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)]

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[[Category:Game birds]]
[[Category:Perdix|grey partridge]]
[[Category:Birds of Europe]]
[[Category:Birds of Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Birds of North America]]
[[Category:Birds described in 1758]]
[[Category:Endangered species of the British Isles]]