PERDIX RUFA. 557 



from one hen, and still she found another to carry on her innate, 

 maternal desire. Nor is this confined to birds or man, for when 

 the male salmon is killed on the spawning bed, his place is 

 immediately supplied by another. So, when one-half of creation 

 draws and the other half pulls, there is no fear of "multiplying 

 and replenishing" the sea as well as the earth — if not the 

 heavens — for, reproduction is great Nature's marriage law, 

 creation's pledge of life eternal — so powerful even in the clocking 

 hen that when her eggs are taken from her she will sit for 

 weeks upon a golf ball or a stone, in her desire for young. They 

 thrive best in dry seasons, feed early after sunrise, and before 

 sunset ; hide during the day, and roost at night on bare places 

 on the fields in coveys. As you pass along a road in the 

 gloaming you may hear them calling each other for rest, as the 

 gong is sounded for dinner to feed upon them in September, for, 

 although grouse shooting begins on August 12th, when the 

 wee pouts can scarcely fly, the partridge-slaughter does not 

 begin till September ; the pheasant in October. The reason is 

 plain — heather is not hurt, although the young grouse are ; corn 

 would be injured. Hence for a time is the partridge and the 

 pheasant spared by selfishness. It is indigenous in Britain, 

 found throughout Europe, but most abundant in the temperate 

 and northern parts. The general colour is reddish-grey, with black 

 lines and spots, and on the belly a large horse-shoe patch of 

 deep red-brown, which in the female is not so plain ; iris, hazel, 

 and a bare bit of bright red behind the eye. The male is 12^ 

 by 20 inches. 



The Red Partridge. 



Perdix Rouge. (Temm.) Perdix Rufa. (Lath.) 



" Well, heaven forgive him ; and forgive us all ! 

 Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall." — Measure for Measure. 



This beautiful bird is called the Guernsey partridge and the 

 French partridge, because it is only a native of Britain by 

 adoption, like the pheasant. The Marquis of Hertford 

 introduced it by bringing from the Continent many thousand 

 eggs, which were hatched under domestic hens, and turned at 

 large ill Oxfordshire. It is abundant in the counties of Norfolk 



