ICO KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



all its ingenious care to conceal its resting place 

 from nocturnal foes, manifests no such sense of 

 security. The roost is ranged with strict refe- 

 rence to the dangers which, in some degree, 

 menace it still. It is known that the head of 

 each bird is turned outwards, forming, so to 

 speak, a continuous ring of posts, while the tails 

 touch, so that each living segment of that little 

 circular camp of innocents, is ready to start and 

 shift for itself, at the least thrill of alarm. 



There is thought to be an appreciable diffe- 

 rence in the sizes of the male and female par- 

 tridges. Occasionally an old cock bird is killed 

 whose weight is worthy of registry. In some 

 parts of upper Pennsylvania where the birds are 

 little disturbed, we have found both of unusual 

 size. During the shooting season the yearling 

 broods are readily known by their inferiority in 

 this respect, and young birds are always to be 

 distinguished from old ones by their smooth, 

 tender, light-colored legs. The legs of the old 

 birds are black and covered with scales. The 

 partridge is found in almost every section of the 

 Union, but it is principally in the Eastern and 

 Middle States, and in some sections of Maryland 

 and Virginia, that it is considered game and sys- 

 tematically hunted with dogs. 



