140 BIRDS OF MIDDLESEX. 



respecting the food and habits of this interesting 

 species.* 



Partridge, Perdix cinerea. The best Partridge 

 ground lies in the north portion of the county, 

 where the birds are usually very fine and healthy, 

 but, owing to the greater part of the land in Middle- 

 sex being grass-land, and roots and stubble com- 

 paratively scarce, Partridges are nowhere very 

 plentiful. 



In the 27th year of his reign, Henry VIII. issued 

 a proclamation in order to preserve the Partridges, 

 Pheasants, and Herons " from his palace at West- 

 minster to St. Giles-in-the-Fields, and from thence 

 to Islington, Hampstead, Highgate, and Hornsey 

 Park.'' Any person, of whatever rank, who should 

 presume to kill or in anywise molest these birds, 

 was to be thrown into prison, and visited by such 

 other punishments as should seem meet to his 

 highness the king. 



How oddly this proclamation would now read to 

 the present inhabitants of Westminster and St. Giles, 

 where a Partridge or Pheasant is no longer to be 

 found, except on the poulterer's stalls. 



Partridges pair very early, and the hen bird is 

 generally sitting by the middle of April. I am not 

 aware that more than one brood is reared in a 

 season, but on one occasion a nest of young Par- 



* See pp. 8682, 8708, 8721, 8726, 8769, 8826, 8819. 



