MODERN FARRIEIU 557 



feathers to the root, is above eighteen inches long ; 

 the legs, feet, and toes are of the colour of horn : 

 there are black spurs on the legs, shorter than those 

 of the common farm-yard cocks, and a membrane 

 that connects two of the toes together. The female 

 is not near so beautiful as the male, her colours be- 

 ing less brilliant. 



This bird, which is so beautiful to the eye, is 

 equally delicious to the taste when served up to ta- 

 ble. Its flesh is considered as the greatest dainty ; 

 and when the physicians of old spoke of the whole- 

 someness of any viands, they generally compared 

 them with the nutritious flesh of the pheasant. 



These birds do not paii- like partridges, the cock 

 being sufficient for a number of hens. They seem, 

 however, occasionally to pair, as the male and female 

 are sometimes observed to stray from the provinces 

 and breed in distant situations. They are much at- 

 tached to thickets and woods when the grass is very 

 long ; they also breed in clover-fields. They form 

 their nests on the ground, much in the manner of 

 the partridge. In a wild state, the hen lays from 

 fifteen to twenty eggs, but when domesticated, sel- 

 dom more than ten. Their eggs are smaller than 

 those of a domestic hen. In mowing clover near 

 the woods frequented by these birds, the destruction 

 of their eggs is sometimes very great ; game-keep- 

 ers, tlierefore, should drive them from clover-fields, 

 as soon as they begin to lay, until their haunts are 

 broken, and they retire into the corn, or places more 

 secure. The young ones, like partridges, follow 

 their mother as soon as they have broken the shell, 

 and will remain some time after the corn is cut 

 amongst the stubbles, and in the bottoms of hedges 

 if undisturbed ; but, if molested, they seek the co- 

 vers, whence they issue morning and evening to 

 feed, as long as food is to be found among the stub- 

 bles ; when corn no longer remains, they feed on 

 acorns and wild berries. 



