Acta Zoologica Cracoviensia, 4() 1959
Kuropatwy (Perdix perdix Linn.) z Doliny Pięciu Stawów Polskich w Tatrach
[The partridges (Perdix perdix Linn.) of the Five Polish Lakes Valley in the Tatra Mountains]
Abstract:
SUMMARY. The partridge (Perdix perdix Linn.), a bird widely distributed in the whole Palearctic has developed a number of subspecies over the area of its distribution; the proper biotope of the partridge are the forestless stretches checked by small treestands, or arable land spotted with planted or natural associations of shrubs. In the years 1928-1929 a flock of partridges was observed in the Five Polish Lakes Valley (Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich) in the Tatra. As this flock was observed for a long time, the shooting of two specimens was ordered on April 18th 1929. S. Leszczycki reported (1929) that this flock including 6 specimens was observed for several days before the two were shot, and they made the impression of feeling quite „at home“ in the Valley, haunting the places where snow was comparatively sparse, and traces of feeding were observed in moss and grass among boulders. Since that time the occurrence of partridges in the Valley has not been reported; however, no special observations have been carried out to this purpose. It was as late as about the middle of October 1951 that a flock was observed including 13 specimens. Next, about the middle of February 1952, the author received two specimens of partridges which had been found dead on the ice-covered surface of the Great Lake. Other three specimens, highly decomposed, were found on May 1st 1952. The winter was extremely severe at that time and numerous migratory birds were found on frozen lakes apparently killed by the raging wind. The specimens supplied showed extreme starvation and in the gizzard of one of them small particles of needles of Pinus mughus have been found. These observations prove that the partridges found lived for a long time in unfavorable conditions in the mountains and the exceptionally severe winter caused their death. They may have been descendants of partridges observed in 1928. The skins of the female partridges supplied in 1952 were compared with that of the female partridge shot in 1929. They proved to resemble them in many respects, while they differed from the skins of the partridges collected in the low lands in spring and autumn. The difference is seen not only in the contour and colour of the plumage but also in the length of the claws and the shape of the horny integument of the beak. The specimens gathered in 1952 have been deposited in the collection of the Cracov Branch of the Zoological Institute and the specimen from 1928 in the Zoological Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw.
