54 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



Do PARTRIDGES MIGRATE? 



The invariable answer of well-informed naturalists 

 is in the negative. 



In my boyish days, when the North Denes were 

 covered with a luxurious growth of furze, the Red- 

 legged Partridge (Caccabis rufd) frequently nested 

 there. And, moreover, it was the common practice 

 of boys, in the month of April, to go on to the Denes 

 and maram hills in search of exhausted " Frenchmen," 

 and not seldom, in the latter half of that month 

 and early in May, a few birds were secured by hand 

 after a scampering chase. Early in April 1882 

 several flew mfrom direct east, with an easterly wind, 

 and some were captured. In 1877 a number of 

 these birds " dropped " in the vicinity of the town ; 

 one actually, which I saw, alighted amongst some 

 furniture exposed for sale in the market-place, and 

 afforded a most delightful hunt, to the great detri- 

 ment of chairs and tables, and the discomfiture of 

 their owner. I eventually secured the prize, and 

 this, with another just captured, lived happily, until 

 killed by rats in my back garden. It was the 

 general belief of the gunning fraternity in those 

 days that these birds came directly over-seas. 



