406 BIRDS OF NORFOLK. 



next twenty years, they would seem to have increased 

 rapidly as, in 1826, they are thus referred to by Messrs. 

 Sheppard and Whitear — "These birds are now very 

 plentiful in some parts of Suffolk. We have seen at 

 least one hundred and fifty brace in a morning upon 

 Dunmingworth heath ; and they are found in greater or 

 less numbers from Alborough to Woodbridge ; a few are 

 also sometimes seen in Norfolk.""^ It appears, however, 

 that other game preservers, in both Norfolk and Suffolk, 

 following the example of the Marquis of Hertford, 

 procured eggs from the continent, and were equally 

 successful in extending the breed. Mr. Alfred Newton 

 has furnished me with the following additional par- 

 ticulars, as communicated to him by his late father: — 

 " The year after Lord CornwaUis died (1823) Lords 

 Alvanley and De Ros hired Culford; they had a 

 large number of red-legged partridges' eggs sent over 

 from France, which they distributed about the neigh- 

 bourhood, keeping, however, some at Culford. The 

 Duke of Norfolk had a good many at Fornham, so 

 also had Mr. Waddington at Cavenham. The eggs 

 were set under hens, and nearly all of them hatched. 

 This was the first introduction of the red-legged 

 partridge into West Suffolk. They had been plentiful 

 in the eastern division of the county several years 

 before, where Lord Hertford had introduced them." 

 Mr. Newton refused to have any eggs, but in a few 

 years the birds spread to Elveden, and thence, of course, 

 very readily into the adjacent parts of Norfolk. 



At the present time, however, so altered are the 

 feelings of many game preservers with regard to this 

 species, that the destruction of their nests is in some 

 places as rigorously carried out as of crows or magpies ; 



* The late Mr. Utting, of Ashweltliorpe, was, I believe, the 

 first to introduce them into East Norfolk. 



