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The first gift listed is "a partridge in a pear tree", and these words end each verse. Since partridges are unlikely to be seen in pear trees (they are ground-nesting birds) [5] it has been suggested that the text "a pear tree" is a corruption of the French "une perdrix" (a partridge). [6]
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", and like the English name, is derived from Ancient Greek πέρδιξ "perdix".
The bird shares its name with the nephew of Daedalus of Greek mythology, who was transformed into the bird when his uncle murdered him in jealousy. He was killed when thrown headlong down from the sacred hill of Athena , so, mindful of his fall, the bird does not build its nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights and avoids high places.
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Turkeys and grouse have also been recognized as having their origins in the pheasant- and partridge-like birds. Until the early 1990s, this family was broken up into two subfamilies: the Phasianinae, including pheasants, tragopans, junglefowls, and peafowls; [4] and the Perdicinae, including partridges, Old World quails, and francolins. [5]
The red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. It is sometimes known as French partridge, to distinguish it from the English or grey partridge. The genus name is from Ancient Greek alektoris a farmyard chicken, and rufa is Latin for red or rufous. [2]
Alectoris is a genus of partridges in the family Phasianidae, closely related to Old World quail (Coturnix and relatives), snowcocks (Tetraogallus), partridge-francolins (), bush quail (), and sand and see-see partridges ().
The Barbary partridge is a rotund bird, with a grey-brown back, grey breast and buff belly. The face is light grey with a broad reddish-brown gorget. It has rufous-streaked white flanks and red legs. When disturbed, it prefers to run rather than fly, but if necessary it flies a short distance on rounded wings.