1 16 PHASIANID^. 



whereas in true Pcrdix they differ in plumage ; and the 

 males have blunt spurs, which is not the case with our bird. 

 Their natural range is principally throughout the warmer 

 portions of the Palsearctic, and the northern districts of the 

 Ethiopian and Oriental regions. 



Originally introduced from abroad, the Ked-legged Par- 

 tridge has maintained its position for upwards of a century, 

 not only without assistance, but even in spite of some 

 attempts to exterminate it, and its claim to a place in 

 the British list is now generally admitted. It is stated 

 in Daniel's ' Kural Sports,' that so long ago as the time 

 of Charles the Second, several pairs of Eed-legged Par- 

 tridges were turned out about Windsor to obtain a stock ; 

 but they are supposed to have perished, although some of 

 them, or their descendants, were seen for a few years after- 

 wards ; and I find other records of this bird having been 

 killed in Bei-kshire. Mr. Daniel further states that the late 

 Duke of Northumberland preserved many in hopes of their 

 increasing upon his manors ; and he also adds, that he him- 

 self, in 1777, within two miles of Colchester, found a covey 

 of fourteen, which baflSed for half an hour the exertions of a 

 brace of good pointers to make them take wing, and the first 

 which did so immediately 'perched on the hedge, and was 

 shot there, without its being known what bird it was. This 

 covey was probably descended from those introduced into 

 England about the year 1770 by the Marquis of Hertford 

 and Lord Rendlesham, each of whom had eggs procured on 

 the Continent, carefully, brought to England, and placed 

 under domestic fowls ; the former at Sudbourn, near Orford, 

 in Sufi'olk, one of his shooting residences ; the latter on his 

 estates at Rendlesham, a few miles distant from Sudbourn. 

 From these places the birds have been gradually extending 

 themselves over the adjoining counties. 



Professor Newton states that in the neighbourhood of 

 Thetford, Sufi'olk, near which he formerly resided, the Red- 

 legged Partridge was not much known till after 1823, when 

 it was introduced by Lords de Ros and Alvanley at Culford, 

 near Bury St. Edmunds, whence the birds spread rapidly on 



