840 TETRAONID.E. 



in tlie two days' sliooting was one hundred and sixty-eiglit 

 brace. He had much fewer shots on the second than on the 

 first day, but he shot better ; on the Saturday he bagged one 

 hundred and eighty head from three hundred and twenty- 

 seven shots, which was considered good shooting in a match 

 of this nature, when a chance, however desperate it may 

 appear, is not to be thrown away. His uncle, T. W. Coke, 

 Esq. loaded the guns a great part of the day on Saturday, 

 and, as a finale to the day's sport, shot at and killed the last 

 bird, which his nephew had previously missed. Lady Ann 

 Coke was in the field a great part of the day ; her ladyship 

 carried refreshments for the sportsmen in her pony gig. 

 Lord Kennedy chose for the scene of his exploits, Montreith, 

 in Scotland, a manor belonging to Sir William Maxwell, 

 considered equal to any lands in Scotland for rearing Par- 

 tridges. On the first day of trial his lordship bagged fifty 

 brace, and on the second eighty-two brace ; being in all one 

 hundred and thirty-two brace of Partridges in two days. 



At the commencement of the Partridge-shooting season, 

 which in some countries of Europe occurs earlier than with 

 us, beginning in the canton of Geneva, for instance, on the 

 15th of August, — the young birds, when disturbed and sepa- 

 rated, Avill, after resting in silence for a time, endeavour to 

 get back to the field they were bred in, apparently in search 

 of their former companions. Later in the season, the whole 

 covey, when flushed, will take to the woods in some districts, 

 and frequently when they have become strong on the wing, 

 the remains of several covies unite, forming a pack, and are 

 then very wild and difficult to approach. 



Mr. Selby observes that the Partridge is found to vary 

 considerably in size, according to situation, and the diiFerent 

 nutritive qualities of food ; thus, the largest are met with in 

 districts where an abundance of grain prevails, whilst upon 

 the precincts of moors, where but an inconsiderable portion 



