RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 459 
and rounded backs, whilst slowly searching the ground for grain and 
insects, they look almost as large as Pheasants. They are partial to the 
shelter of thick hedgerows and plantations, but, unless driven into such 
cover, are seldom found far from the outer fence, through which they can 
run on the slightest alarm; and in walking quietly up a woodside, where 
these birds are plentiful, it is very usual to see one or more Red-legs 
issuing from the hedge-bottom and hurrying along under the bank. They 
are fond also of basking in thick rushy carrs; and in low meadows will 
hide in the sedgy margins of the watercourses, where I have shot them 
late in the season when looking for Snipe.” 
In the pairing-season the Red-legged Partridge is a rather pugnacious 
bird, and not only fights with its own kind, but also with the Common 
Partridge. The latter bird is generally worsted in the conflict, consequently 
in many districts the Red-legged Partridge is persecuted as vigilantly as 
Hawks and Magpies. It is even said that it will drive the Common 
Partridge from its nest and appropriate it to its own use; but such a 
charge is not yet clearly proved, besides the Red-legged Partridge is said 
to lay much earlier. The nest of this bird is made upon the ground 
amongst the tall grass in a hedge-bottom or in the growing crops, and is 
merely a few bits of dry grass and withered leaves arranged in a little 
hollow. Mr. J. Cullingford informs me that it often makes its nest 
amongst the thatch of stacks or on the ground by the roadside. The 
eggs vary from ten to eighteen in number, and are deposited by the 
latter end of April or early in May. They are pale buff or stone-colour, 
speckled, spotted, and blotched with yellowish or light chocolate-brown, 
and some eggs are much more thickly spotted than others. The 
shell is thick and strong, finely pitted, and shows considerable gloss. 
They vary in length from 1°6 to 1°5 inch, and in breadth from 1:25 
to 1:15 ich. The eggs of the Red-legged Partridge very closely 
resemble those of the Barbary Partridge, but those of the latter are 
usually redder. The Red-legged Partridge is said to lay its eggs at 
long intervals ; and though it may commence laying before the Common 
Partridge, it is, through its irregular habits, the last to hatch its brood. 
The eggs of the Common Partridge and the Pheasant are sometimes 
found with those of this species; and it has been suggested that these 
birds had been driven from their nests, but the evidence is in favour of 
the theory that they had laid in the nest of the Red-legged Partridge—a 
habit which is common to many species of game birds. 
The food of the Red-legged Partridge consists in summer largely of 
insects, but in autumn and winter grain and seeds are its main support. 
The cry of this bird resembles both that of the Quail and that of the 
Common Partridge, being a threefold note like the former, though almost 
as harsh in tone as the latter. When the young are hatched they are 
