178 PARTRIDGE. 



brown spots. In flavour their flesh so nearly resembles 

 that of the common grouse, as scarcely to be distinguish- 

 able from it. 



The Ptarmigan is somewhat larger than a pigeon. The 

 bill is black; and in summer the upper parts of the plu- 

 mage are of a pale brown colour, mottled with small bars 

 of black, rust^colour, and white. The wings and belly 

 are white. 



Partridge. The habits and instincts of these birds are, 

 in many respects, extremely interesting ; but in none 

 more than the stratagems which are adopted by the fe- 

 male parent, for the preservation of her offspring. These, 

 almost immediately after they quit the egg, are able to 

 run after her ; and if a dog or man approach the place 

 where they are, she throws herself into his way, appears 

 as if crippled, hops and partly flies forward, just within 

 his reach, until she has enticed him to a sufficient 

 distance from the objects of her solicitude, when she 

 expands her wings, and flies away far beyond his pur- 

 suit. Partridges usually associate in small flocks, which 

 have the particular denomination of covies, and which 

 consist of the parent birds and their offspring. They 

 pair about the third week in February ; form a rude 

 nest, of dry leaves and grass, in some small cavity upon 

 the ground ; and lay from fifteen to eighteen eggs, which 

 are of a greenish-gray colour. Their food consists of 

 green corn, seeds, and insects ; but particularly of the 

 grubs of ants, to which they are more partial than to 

 almost any other kind of food. In Greenland, and other 

 extreme northern countries, where the snow lies long 

 upon the ground, Partridges become white in the winter, 

 and acquire, at that season, an additional clothing, in a 



