168 ORNITHOLOGICAL RAMBLES. 



in almost all parts of the county, but appears 

 to be more abundant on those portions of the 

 lower green-sandstone formation, in the western 

 division, where the cultivation of the turnip ob- 

 tains as in the neighbourhood of Rogate, Mid- 

 hurst, and Petworth than elsewhere. They are 

 numerous during certain seasons in even the most 

 thickly-wooded parts of the weald, and seem 

 equally partial to the arable land among the val- 

 leys of the Downs. 



Two coveys of the red-legged partridge (Perdix 

 rufa) were hatched and reared under domestic 

 hens in July, 1841, and turned down on a manor 

 in the parish of Kirdford, in the weald of Sussex. 

 They were observed in the same neighbourhood 

 for nearly a fortnight, after which they suddenly 

 disappeared. During the following September a 

 small covey was sprung near Bolney, about twenty 

 miles farther west, and a brace shot. These were 

 probably the remnant of the Kirdford birds in- 

 stinctively performing the autumnal migration.* 



I rejoice to say that this species is not indi- 

 genous to Sussex. Many a Norfolk and Suffolk 

 sportsman has to suffer for the sins of his fathers, 



* The Rev. J. Lubbock in his ' Fauna of Norfolk ' con- 

 siders the red-legged partridge a migratory bird even in 

 some parts of that county. 



