NATURAL HISTORY 33 



equable climate, with a food-supply more 

 or less assured throughout the year, he 

 has become a real stay-at-home bird, and 

 rarely cares to wander beyond the con- 

 fines of his native farm. On the Con- 

 tinent, however, where they are subjected 

 to more violent climatic changes, par- 

 tridges are of a more migratory habit, 

 and shift their quarters freely, travelling 

 far afield in search of food and shelter. 



Formerly the light soils of the eastern 

 counties of England were alone considered 

 capable of supporting great numbers of 

 partridges, as indeed they were capable 

 of doing without any help from the hand 

 of man, beyond the casual attentions of 

 the old - fashioned gamekeeper. Now, 

 however, it has been proved beyond all 

 question that the heavier lands of Hamp- 

 shire, Notts, Yorkshire, and half-a-dozen 

 other counties can, under the modern 

 methods of higher preservation, carry as 

 heavy and, in some cases, even a heavier 

 head of partridges than those more 

 naturally congenial to game. 



