THE PARTRIDGES 59 



acclimatisation, be it noted, were made by a few keen sportsmen who 

 procured eggs, it is generally believed, from France, and hatched 

 them under barn-door fowls. From Norfolk and Suffolk, which are 

 still its strongholds, this bird has gradually spread into the Midlands. 

 It does not thrive, however, on the west coast, while the northerly 

 confines of these islands prove still more uncongenial. 



While the redlegged and the English species live side by side, 

 as in East Anglia, the first named, as a matter of fact, does not 

 prosper with cultivation like its cousin the grey-partridge, which 

 decreases rapidly in numbers as it recedes from cultivated areas. 

 Nevertheless, it is not dependent on what we may call artificial 

 conditions for its well-being. And this because both on the breks 

 and warrens of East Anglia, as well as on the slopes of our northern 

 fells, coveys of partridges have established themselves time out of 

 mind. Here, even when remote from cultivation, these birds hold 

 their own easily, though few in numbers. So long have they been 

 isolated that they may be distinguished by their smaller size and 

 somewhat darker coloration. In the northern parts of the kingdom 

 such birds are known as " hill " partridges and " fell " partridges ; and 

 from the fact that the food they get here is, in a great measure, like 

 that of blackcock and redgrouse, their flesh is darker, when served 

 at table, than the birds bred on highly cultivated areas. According 

 to most authorities, the ground whereon the partridge thrives best is 

 that which affords a certain amount of waste-land or heather, which 

 will extend a harbourage during tillage and the gathering of crops ; a 

 certain amount of grass, and cultivated land where the soil is light 

 and loamy ; and there must be a constant supply of water. Heavy 

 clay soils are bad. In the first place they seem to harbour fewer 

 insects, which are an important element in the partridge's diet ; in 

 the second they, in wet weather, hold the water, which forms pools, 

 wherein the young drown, while during drought large cracks appear, 

 down which more or fewer young may vanish. No better demonstra- 

 tion of the need of a certain amount of wild waste-land for the well- 



