“ For several years after its first introduction it was much prized and sought after by sportsmen, as
it was a larger bird for the table, although very inferior in richness and flavour to the common Grey
Partridge ; and it is still preferred by some, from its flesh being whiter and more delicate. Being also of
bolder disposition, more alert, and rising at a greater distance, and consequently more difficult to secure, its
acquisition was thought to reflect more sportsman-like credit upon him who possessed the skill to bring it
down. Its habits becoming better known, it was found that a great difficulty attending the shooting o f this
species is due to its practice o f running to a distance after alighting, on which account the dogs coming upon
the scent were baffled, being induced to draw upon their g am e ; and even then the birds will not rise except
a t a very considerable distance. Very little sport can therefore be expected, unless the weather be extremely
w e t; they then are less inclined to run, rise a t a lesser distance, and the sportsman has a greater chance of
success. The most effectual means of securing them is to attack them during severe weather, in the snow,
when the birds resort to the hedgerows for shelter, whence they may be dislodged and then easily shot.
“ The female lays from ten to fifteen eggs, o f a light stone-colour, freckled with very minute reddish-brown
spots, varied here and there with spots of a larger size, and o f a rather darker colour. The nest is
constructed of dried grass and leaves, on the ground in some warm and sheltered part o f a field o f growing
corn, grass, or clover.’p'#®
Perhaps the most interesting portion of Mr. Stevenson’s account o f this species is his remarks on its
supposed immigration from the Continent to this country; and I quite agree with him and Mr. Alfred
Newton in believing that the birds found on the beach and denes of Norfolk are individuals which have been
influenced by a desire to seek other countries, but, finding the attempt beyond their powers, have returned in
a tired state to the shores they had left.
“ Both Mr. Lubbock and Messrs. Gurney and F isher,” says Mr. Stevenson, “ have alluded to the supposed
migratory habits o f the Red-legged Partridge; and my own inquiries amongst naturalists and others residing
in the vicinity o f the sea certainly confirm their statements as to small coveys of these birds, generally in an
exhausted condition, being met with in the spring of the year on various parts o f the coast. Captain Lohge,
of Yarmouth, informs me that in many successive springs, about March or April, he has found French
Partridges early in the morning running about the beach close to the water, and on one occasion flushed a
covey of from twenty to thirty, which flew around once or twice and then out to sea, still keeping on in a
direct course until he lost sight o f them, although using a good glass. Every year about the same time
many are captured under the boats and fishing-baskets lying on the beach, and others are ruu down by lads
in the gardens near the denes, and sometimes even within the town itself . . . They have been observed in
like manner on the Suffolk coast, near Lowestoft, so exhausted as to allow themselves to be picked up by
hand. . . . At Cromer, also, the beachmen seem to be fully aware o f the annual appearance o f these birds
on the coast about the end of March. On this point both Mr. William Barclay, o f Leyton, and myself have
received reliable testimony from one of the most experienced and intelligent fishermen at th at favourite
watering-place. In answer to my inquiries, William Mayes writes:— ‘All the information I can give you
about French Partridges is that they come over about the . middle o f March o r beginning o f April, some ten
o r twelve in a flock, the wind mostly south-east and south. I have seen them when I have been out to sea
four and Jive miles from land. None come over in the autumn.’ Tha t these concurrent testimonies are
indicative of some migratory movement o f the Red-legged Partridge there can be no d o u b t; but while it is
by no means easy to decide from what p art o f the continent we might look for an influx of this species, and
there is really no place abroad that these birds could have come from to alight on the Cromer beach, the
above statements are by no means incompatible with the idea that emigration, and not immigration, is the
true explanation o f this somewhat difficult subject. In this view, I know, Mr. Alfred Newton entirely concu
rs; and the fact that the French Partridge was unknown in this county until introduced is one of the
strongest arguments against its vernal immigration at the present time. On the other hand, after the
success which has attended its importation and its rapid increase throughout the eastern counties, it is far
from improbable that a portion should annually seek to extend their area, and, finding themselves stopped
by the German Ocean, attempt to cross it. These birds, or a portion of them (some probably falling short
and being drowned a t sea), misjudging the distance and their own powers o f flight, would return again to
our shores in an exhausted state, and when picked up under such circumstances would very naturally be
regarded as foreigners ju st arrived on the coast.”
The Plate represents a male, a female, and a brood o f young, of the size o f life. The plants are the
Common Heath (Erica cinerea) and the Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia).