20 PARTRIDGES 



the high tops yet it is not easy whole- 

 heartedly to subscribe to Mr. Rothschild's 

 dictum, that it is certain that they would 

 do admirably on our north country fells 

 and Scots mountains. One scents diffi- 

 culties in the path ; though, so far as the 

 food supply is concerned, they would 

 probably thrive on the same scanty fare 

 of roots, berries, grass, and moss that 

 keeps the ptarmigan so plump and lusty, 

 yet surely the high mountain sides of 

 Asia must have a climate far drier and 

 colder than our own, and one cannot but 

 doubt that, unless expense were no object, 

 the cost of the experiment might be out 

 of all proportion to its results. 



Continuous wet and rain are far the 

 most trying conditions to all wild life, 

 and to a new-comer, unacquainted with 

 all the clever devices which the natives 

 employ to keep themselves dry, might 

 well prove fatal at the outset. 



Still, I have seen Crested Cranes from 

 the sun-baked plains of Kordofan thriv- 

 ing among the damps and mists of the 



