I1D PHASIANID®.
Wilson, Bart., had a small covey of seven or eight hatched
and reared by the parent birds in his aviary/ at Charlton
in the summer ;;o£ >1842. Dry summers are particularly
favourable to the breeding of Partridges; White,-:-ihu; his
• ‘ Historyi óf, Selborne, ’ notes, that after the dry summers
of 174G and7/1741, Partridges swarmed to such a degree,
that; ‘ ‘ unreasonable sportsmen killed twenty-and sometimes
thirty brace in a day.” The late Earl of Leicester,, on the
7th of October, 1797, upon his. manor at Warham, and
within, a mile’s circumference, bagged forty brace of Partridges
in eight hours, at ninety-three shots : every bird "being
killed singly; and the day before, on the same ground, he
killed twenty-two brace and a half in. three hours.. This
was wonderfully good shooting in the days of flint-locks, but
*as a bag it has long since been thrown into the shade. The
largest bag of Partridges on record was made by the Maharajah
Duleep Singh to his own gun in 1876, the number s of 780
hand-reared birds being shot .on öné day, and 814 wild birds
on. another; the total of six days’ shooting near Tbeifbrd
being 2,580 Partridges, Without' counting ground-game* 7
PP When ^ driving ” is practised,:t©tegraph wires ofteh prove
fatal to Partridges, and they frequently fly against these
unseen obstacles on foggy mornings.
' Mr. ;.Selby : observes that the Partridgé is found , to vary
considerably in size,, according to situation, and the different
nutritive.qualities of food ; thus, the largest’are mekwitb in
districts " where an abundance of grain prevails, whilst upon
the' precincts of moors, where arable land is acarcé,;they-are
much smaller in size, although by no means inferior inpbinfc
of.flavour. I t has, been.observed-to me also,' that' on ,some
lieathy "districts in Surrey, such, as the Hurt-wood and
•Begshot Heath, Partridges seldom frequent; the corn-lands,
but subsist on heath and hurtle-berries. These birds are
■noi i so.'white in the-flesh when ..dressed, and have home of
(the flavour of the 'Grouse. A?Partridge .weighing lib.-, is\
above the average, but examples have been known up:»tö]
18 OZS; ,
The Partridge is so generally distributed over"'this bountry
COMMON PA.RTRIDGE, 111
as to make an enumeration of particular localities unnecessary;
but though plentiful in some of the low'grounds of
Scotland,' it does not appear to have extended beyond a few .
of the islands of the Inner Hebrides. It was introduced'
in some of the Orkney Islands about 1840. In Ireland,
although'found in most of the cultivated, districts, it does'
not seem to thrive,- and of late years its numbers have on
the whole diminished, from various causes.
I n Norway the Partridge exists under difficulties, and -its?
numbers fluctuate almost down Ikrthelpöint of extermination,!
ovs-ing to the rigour of the winters and the f abundaribe Of
birds of prey,’especially the Goshawk. In Sweden dlf has’
been known to occums far as 66° gg| lit:*, but it can hardly
be said to flourish in any part of that country, or in Finland.
Throughout the greater part of Denmark it is resident, as
well as M Northern Germany down to Poland, and thence"
through Russia tor the Ural. In Holland, Belgium, and
Northern and Central France it is found’in suitable localities
down to Savoy, but in the south it gives) place to the
Red-legged specieê; nevertheless'if -Occurs on both sides of
the, Pyrenees, especially in the moister regions to the west,';
where it holds its Own against the Red-leg as far as Galicia,
and' down to thé val-lèy of the Ebro.« In arid Southèrn Spain
and Portugal it is almost unknown, but in Italy it: ranges
down to Naples. As M‘alherbè’Ostatèment, that. it visits Sicily
on its? passages to' and from Africa^ is often quoted in support
of the supposed migratory habits*Of this bird,Ifemay be
mentioned that the recent- feareful' investigations, of Professor
Bóderlein,"of Palermo,5 himself a great sportsman, afford no
satisfactory evidence of its ■‘existence even? id the mountains
of that island ; and ikisquite unknown in Northern Africa.’
Neither is it indigenous to the island óf Sardinia.: The;
gradual destrudtioh of the forests, in some parts of’ Southern
Germany and Austria appears to have favoured. its 'increase;
and it abounds in the" cultivated - districts of Albania^ Male©*'
donia, and Róuinélia, whilst more "to- the northwards- it" is
generally distributed" throughout the. steppes rt>£* Southern
* Faune Öröi'bliölögiqiie-'da la. Sioilej p.U-54.'