168 . KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



What is asserted of the English partridge, is 

 doubtless true of our own, that when once paired 

 they rarely separate. Jt is well known that the 

 partridge may be reared in the barn-yard. In 

 the fall of eighteen hundred and fifty, we saw 

 one of a brood which had been brought up in 

 this manner by a bantam hen. It was then full 

 grown and quietly feeding with the chickens. 

 The experiment has also been reversed, by 

 placing the eggs of the common hen under the 

 partridge. In this case the result was more 

 curious, as the brood of chickens thus produced 

 had all the wild habits of young partridges. In 

 commenting upon this change, Wilson, the 

 father of American ornithology, reasonably ob- 

 serves that "there is scarcely a doubt that the 

 domestic fowl might be very soon brought back 

 to its original savage state, and thereby supply 

 another additional subject for the amusement of 

 the sportsman. But," he adds, " the experi- * 

 ment, in order to secure its success, must be 

 made in a quarter of the country less exposed 

 than ours to the ravages of guns, traps, dogs, 

 and the deep snows of winter, that the new 

 tribe might have full time to become completely 

 naturalized, and well fixed in their native 

 habits." This reminds us of an adventure of a 



