BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 



fifty years, chiefly on the east side" of England, 

 where they have always been more in evidence 

 than farther west. In Devon and Cornwall, 

 indeed, the bird is very rare, and in Ireland 

 almost unknown. 



Its red legs stand it in good stead, for it 

 can run like a hare, and hi this way it often 

 baffles the guns. It is not, however, so much 

 its reluctance to rise that has brought it into 

 disrepute with keepers as its alleged habit of 

 ousting the native bird, in much the same 

 way as the " Hanover " rat has superseded 

 the black aboriginal, although far from the 

 " Frenchman " driving the English partridge 

 off the soil, there appears to be even no truth 

 in the supposed hostility between the two, 

 since they do not commonly affect the same 

 type of country ; and even when they meet 

 they nest in close proximity and in com- 

 parative harmony. Nevertheless the males, 

 even of the same species, are apt to be 

 pugnacious in the breeding season. 



Both the partridge and landrail run serious 



risk from scythe and plough while sitting on 



the nest. Landrails have before now been 



decapitated by the swing of the scythe, and 



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