144 REMARKS ON THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 



wing, fly over the adjacent hedge, and alight in the field be- 

 yond : this they will repeatedly do, effectually baffling the 

 party who had marked them down in the first field, and sup- 

 posing them secure, had followed them up to get shots upon 

 their next rising. These birds run with great rapidity, with 

 the head and neck erect : thus being able to observe their 

 pursuers at a distance, they can the more effectually escape 

 the threatening danger. They frequent corn-fields, preferring 

 the upper land, amid the security and shelter of which they 

 breed : during harvest, when the fields are occupied by the 

 reapers, they retire to the adjacent fallow fields, or the neigh- 

 bouring copses ; and in the evening, when all is still, return 

 to the corn-fields and feed on the ears of corn in the sheaves, 

 both late in the evening and early in the morning. After the 

 corn is cut they frequent the same fields, then in stubble, 

 night and morning, where they regale themselves upon the 

 grain which has fallen from the sheaves during harvest. In 

 the middle of the day they retire to the fields of turnips, by 

 the leaves of which they are sheltered from the heat of the sun, 

 or to the lowland meadows, where they delight in the humid- 

 ity of such situations. They also occasionally bask in the 

 sun, in the middle of the day, by the side of some sandy bank, 

 where, like many of the feathered tribes, with outstretched 

 leg and fluttering wing, they shake the dry warm sand into 

 their feathers, occasionally preying upon the numerous in- 

 sects which they find around them ; in such situations they 

 often assemble their young broods, which sport around the 

 parent birds, essaying to capture their insect prey. In the 

 winter, when the stubble fields are ploughed up, they retire 

 to the upland meadows, or to the hedge-rows or copses, where 

 they are sheltered from much of the inclemency of the sea- 

 son. The female lays from fifteen to twenty eggs, of a light 

 stone colour, freckled with very minute reddish brown spots, 

 and varied, here and there, with spots of a larger size, and of 

 a rather darker colour. The nest is constructed of dried grass 

 and leaves, upon the ground, in some warm and sheltered 

 part of a field of growing corn, grass, or clover, where the pa- 

 rent bird sits with much assiduity until the young are hatch- 

 ed, which, like those of the grey partridge, are capable of 

 running as soon as they are fairly excluded from the shell. 



Since the introduction of these birds into England, they 

 have spread throughout Suffolk, into Norfolk, Essex, and 

 Cambridgeshire ; it appears they are now making their ap- 

 pearance in Lincolnshire, and probably will soon extend 

 themselves over the adjacent counties. 



Ipswich, Feb. ISth, 1839. 



