126 PARTRIDGES 



pens should be 12 ft. long by 4 ft. wide 

 and 3 ft. high, covered with twine-netting 

 of about ^ in. mesh, with fir branches in 

 the centre and some shelters of boards 

 at the sides. Each of these pens will 

 hold about 4 brace comfortably, and 

 should be placed on good dry turf. The 

 birds should for the first day or so be 

 given water, grit, and crushed and scalded 

 grain, and then whole grain and plenty of 

 green food. They should be procured by 

 the end of December, and enlarged at the 

 end of January ; they will then be less 

 likely to stray than if they were turned 

 out before the pairing season began. 

 Owing to the severer changes of climate 

 to which they are subject in their own 

 country, Hungarian partridges are more 

 migratory in habit than our native birds, 

 so this is an important consideration. 



It is inadvisable to handicap the new- 

 comers with rings on their legs for 

 purposes of identification; a small hole 

 punched through the web of the wing 

 serves the purpose equally well, and in 



