The grey partridge (Perdix perdix) is a medium-sized, plump gamebird with a distinctive orange face. Also known as the English partridge, Hungarian partridge, or hun, it is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. The grey partridge was originally a bird of temperate steppe grasslands. It has adapted readily to open arable landscapes and, accordingly, vastly expanded its range as agricultural development spread westwards across Europe over the last eight millennia. After the last Ice Age, the grey partridge arrived naturally in Britain. The combination of land enclosure, increased cultivation and intensive predator control in the 18th and especially the 19th century boosted its numbers considerably and it became the most popular sporting quarry of the last century.
