COMMON PARTRIDGE. Ill 



as to make an enumeration of particular localities unneces- 

 sary ; 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. 



In Norway the Partridge exists under difficulties, and its 

 numbers fluctuate almost down to the point of extermination, 

 owing to the rigour of the winters and the abundance of 

 birds of prey, especially the Goshawk. In Sweden it has 

 been known to occur as far as 66° N. lat., 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 in Northern Germany down to Poland, and thence 

 through Russia to the Ural. In Holland, Belgium, and 

 Northern and Central France it is found in suitable locali- 

 ties down to Savoy, but in the south it gives place to the 

 Pted-legged species ; nevertheless it occurs on both sides of 

 the Pyrenees, especially in the moister regions to the west, 

 where it holds its own against the Ked-leg as far as Galicia, 

 and down to the valley of the Ebro. In arid Southern Spain 

 and Portugal it is almost unknown, but in Italy it ranges 

 down to Naples. AsMalherbe's statement, that it visits Sicily 

 on its passages to and from Africa,* is often quoted in sup- 

 port of the supposed migratory habits of this bird, it may be 

 mentioned that the recent careful investigations of Professor 

 Doderleiu, of Palermo, himself a great sportsman, afi'ord no 

 satisfactory evidence of its existence even in the mountains 

 of that island ; and it is quite unknown in Northern Africa. 

 Neither is it indigenous to the island of Sardinia. The 

 gradual destruction 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, Mace- 

 donia, and Roumelia, whilst more to the northwards it is 

 generally distributed throughout the steppes of Southern 



* Faune Ornithologique de la Ricile, p. 154. 



