HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



dinary cry, which is accompanied by a clap- 

 ping of the wings, is no sooner finished, than 

 ihe female, hearing it, replies, approaches, 

 and places herself under the tree, from whence 

 the cock descends to impregnate her. The 

 number of females that, on this occasion, re- 

 sort to his call is uncertain ; but one male ge- 

 nerally suffices for all. 



The female is much less than her mate, 

 and entirely unlike him in plumage, so that 

 she might be mistaken for a bird of another 

 species : she seldom lays more than six or 

 seven eggs, which are white, and marked 

 with yellow, of the size of a common hen's 

 egg ; she generally lays them in a dry place, 

 and a mossy ground, and hatches them with- 

 out the company of the cock. When she is 

 obliged, during the time of incubation, to 

 leave her eggs in quest of food, she covers 

 them up so artfully, with moss or dry leaves, 

 that it is extremely difficult to discover them. 

 On this occasion, she is extremely tame and 

 tranquil, however wild and timorous in ordin- 

 ary. She often keeps to her nest, though 

 strangers attempt to drag her away. 



As soon as the young ones are hatched, 

 they are seen running with extreme agility 

 after the mother, though sometimes they are 

 not entirely disengaged from the shell. The 

 hen leads them forward, for the first time, into 

 the woods, shows them ants' eggs, and the 

 wild mountain-berries, which, while young, 

 are their only food. As they grow older, 

 their appetites grow stronger, and they then 

 feed upon the tops of heather, and the cones 

 of the pine-tree. In this manner they soon 

 come to perfection ; they are a hardy bird, 

 their food lies everywhere before them, and it 

 would seem that they should increase in great 

 abundance. But this is not the case ; their 

 numbers are thinned by rapacious birds and 

 beasts of every kind ; and still more by their 

 own salacious contests. 



As soon as the clutching is over, which the 

 female performs in the manner of a hen, the 

 whole follow the mother for about a month 

 or two, at the end of which the young males 

 entirely forsake her, and keep in great har- 

 mony together till the beginning of spring. 

 At this season, they begin, for the first time, 

 to feel the genial access ; and then adieu to 

 all their former friendship ! They begin to 

 consider each other as rivals ; and the rage of 

 concupiscence quite extinguishes the spirit of 

 society. They fight each other like game- 

 cocks ; and at that time are so inattentive to 

 their own safety, that it often happens that 

 two or three of them are killed at a shot. It 

 is probable that in these contests, the bird 

 which comes off victorious takes possession of 

 the female seraglio, as it is certain they have 

 no faithful attachments. 



CHAP. IX. 



OF THE PARTRIDGE, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



The Partridge may be particularly con- 

 sidered as belonging to the sportsman. It is 

 a bird which even our laws have taken 

 under protection ; and, like a peacock or a 

 hen, maybe ranked as private property. The 

 only difference now is, that we feed one in 

 our farms, the other in our yards ; that these 

 are contented captives ; those, servants that 

 have it in their power to change their master, 

 by changing their habitation. 1 



" These birds," says Willoughby," hold the 

 principal place in the feasts and entertain- 

 ments of princes; without which their feasts 

 are esteemed ignoble, vulgar, and of no ac- 

 count. The Frenchmen do so highly value, 

 and are so fond of, the partridge, that if they 

 be wanting, they utterly slight and despise 

 the best-spread tables ; as if there could be 

 no feast without them." But however this 

 might be in the times of our historian, the 

 partridge is now too common in France to be 

 considered as a delicacy; and this, as well as 

 every other simple dish, is exploded for luxuries 

 of a more compound invention. 



In England, where the partridge is much 

 scarcer, and a great deal dearer, it is still a 

 favourite delicacy at the tables of the rich ; 

 and the desire of keeping it to themselves, 

 has induced them to make laws for its preser- 

 vation, no way harmonizing with the general 

 spirit of English legislation. What can be 

 more arbitrary than to talk of preserving the 

 game ; which, when defined, means no more 

 than that the poor shall abstain from what the 

 rich have taken a fancy to keep for themselves ? 

 If these birds could, like a cock or a hen, be 

 made legal property, could they be taught to 

 keep within certain districts, and only feed 

 on those grounds that belong to the man 

 whose entertainments they improve, it then 

 might, with some show of justice, be admit- 

 ted, that as a man fed them, so he might 

 claim them. But this is not the case ; nor is 

 it in any man's power to lay a restraint upon 

 the liberty of these birds, that, when let loose, 

 put no limits to their excursions. They feed 

 every where ; upon every man's ground ; and 

 no man can say these birds are fed only by 

 me. Those birds which are nourished by all, 

 belong to all ; nor can any one man, or any 

 set of men, lay claim to them, when still con- 

 tinuing in a state of nature. 



I never walked out about the environs of 

 Paris, that I did not consider the immense 

 quantity of game that was running almost 



1 This account is from the Journal Oiconomiciue, and 

 may be relied on. Goldsmith. 



