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 in 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way as the " Hanover " rat has superseded 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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