THE PARTRIDGE AT HOME AND ABROAD ^ 



without decreasing in numbers or losing weight of 

 substance. Most people regard the partridge as one 

 of the most local of creatures, and would scout any 

 suggestion of its being a migratory bird. It is not a 

 migratory bird in the same sense as the landrail or the 

 swallow ; our own insular race of partridge is content 

 to remain upon our shores, come what may ; so far as 

 we know it prefers ' short commons ' to a flight that 

 would extend even across the English Channel, and 

 resides for the most part in one and the same district 

 throughout the year, whatever happens. It is true, 

 however, that from time to time a covey of partridges 

 lands in a more or less exhausted state upon the 

 beach of our eastern or southern coast, under circum- 

 stances which render the hypothesis of a covey of 

 Dutch or Belgian partridges crossing the German 

 Ocean perfectly tenable. But, however plausible 

 such a suggestion may appear, we should, on the 

 whole, shrink from accepting it as proven upon any 

 but the strongest evidence. It would be more safe to 

 surmise that, though the birds in question may have 

 flown in from sea, they had previously left some 

 neighbouring point of our own coast, and had 

 deflected from their course to catch up the land 

 again. This view gains probability from the re- 

 flection that we never hear of partridges boarding 



