Status and distribution Natural range includes Iberia, except northern coastal strip and higher Pyrenees, Balearic Is, much of west, central & southern France, Corsica, Elba and northern Italy. Successfully introduced to Britain where now found throughout east, central & southern England and sporadically further north, in Wales and in Scotland. Also introduced with varying degrees of success on the Azores, Madeira and on Gran Canaria in the Canary Is, these populations are now mostly scarce and in decline.

Most are resident, only those in the highest areas undergoing limited altitudinal movements. Despite lack of movements has been recorded out of normal range in Belgium and Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland. These may be genuine wanderers or deliberate releases of birds for shooting.

Subspecies Nominate race is found in Britain, France, Corsica and Italy, the darker hispanica in northern Iberia, replaced by paler and brighter intercedens in the east & south. Birds from Corsica are sometimes separated as ssp corsa and those from Gran Canaria as australis.

Habitat Dry, rocky hillsides like other Alectoris partridges, but also heathland and grassland, vineyards and cultivated fields.