4 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 



charms if there were no ' brown birds ' to be spied 

 stealing away through the wild profusion of orchids 

 and other wild flowers that scent the air so heavily, 

 warned of our intrusion by the sound of our quiet 

 footsteps, which, to their acute senses, are full of 

 meaning. We question, indeed, whether even the 

 grouse holds as high a position in popular favour as 

 the unobtrusive partridge. The latter certainly enjoys 

 a wider distribution than any other British game-bird ; 

 indeed, the grouse would have been exterminated 

 ere this but for the intervention of landowners and 

 lessees of shootings, whereas even the English 

 labourer, radical though his creed may be, possesses 

 a sneaking regard for the partridge. More than that, 

 all country dwellers really love the bird for its own 

 sake, and exercise a healthy emulation in the solici- 

 tude which they evince about its safety. It owes 

 a great deal also to the protective coloration of its 

 prettily pencilled plumage, to its cautious traits of 

 character, and unpretentious presence. Besides, it is 

 always with us, nestling in the fields of the home farm, 

 straying into the garden or the orchard, seeking the 

 neighbourhood of men, depending for its existence in 

 great part upon the results of human industry. Vari- 

 able and uncertain as our insular climate must be 

 admitted to be, we rarely experience more than a few 



