The rest of the head and underparts are pale slate-grey with a buff line on the chest and black belly patch.

Their song sounds like a higher-pitched, sped-up version of the grey partridge's; a shrill, grating kieerr-ik!

[citation needed] This partridge breeds generally on open grassland or steppe including farmland across much of temperate East Asia from Kyrgyzstan and extending eastward to China and Mongolia.

In parts of its range, it overlaps with the very similar and closely related grey partridge, with which it forms a superspecies.

When disturbed, it springs upward with whirring wings in a rapid, explosive manner, then it flies off to nearby cover, all while sounding off an alarmed staccato hek-hek-hek!