Grey partridge

Perdix perdix

Group: Upland birds
Size class: Small (under 10 kg)
Family: Phasianidae

Range

Europe
North America

Habitat

Farmland

Range

Countries it is found in

48 countries

Albania
Andorra
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia & Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Czechia
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iran
Ireland
Isle of Man
Italy

Range from:Wikipedia country bird lists, GBIF occurrence records — read 2026-08-05

Chapter 01

Overview

The grey partridge (Perdix perdix) is a gallinaceous bird of the pheasant family; the scientific name is simply the Latin for partridge. Linnaeus described it in 1758 with Europe as the type locality, since restricted to Sweden. Eight subspecies are recognised by the IOC World Bird List, though the differences are clinal and not all authorities accept them — BirdLife International recognises six. The nominate P. p. perdix runs from the British Isles and southern Scandinavia to Italy and the Balkans.

Chapter 02

Identification

A rotund bird, brown-backed, with grey flanks and chest and a white belly usually marked with a large chestnut-brown horseshoe in the male and in many females too. Length is 29–31 cm, wingspan 45–48 cm, and weight 320–455 g for the nominate race, up to 350–600 g for P. p. robusta. Males and females are the same size and very similar in plumage, which is why the horseshoe is worth looking for. Hens lay up to twenty eggs in a ground nest, usually in the margin of a cereal field and most often winter wheat.

Field data

Tracks

A photograph of real sign left by Grey partridge. Prints vary with gait, ground and how long they have been there — treat this as one example, not a template.

Track photo:Дмитрий Еременко CC BY

On the table

Meat & cooking

Table grade 5 of 55/5

Sold as meat in a legal market
Has a named traditional dish
Published way to handle and cook it
Eaten in more than one country
No known health advisory

Traditional preparations

Salmis: The classic French treatment of game birds — roasted briefly, then jointed and finished in a sauce built from the carcass. Salmis — Wikipedia
Game pie: Legs and trim, the parts that dry out on a fast roast, go into raised and braised game pies. Game pie — Wikipedia

Sources

Sources: Grey partridge — Wikipedia — read 2026-08-05

Cross-reference