RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 175 



on the defensive. They continued persecuting their 

 enemy ; and, not content with driving him fairly off 

 the field, carried on the assault, till the crow was so 

 fatigued with defending himself from their attacks, 

 and became so disabled by the blows he had re- 

 ceived, as to be no longer equal to taking wing. 

 In this state he was eventually laid hold of by the 

 person witnessing the battle, who had quietly ad- 

 vanced towards the scene of action, unheeded by 

 the combatants, whose attention was wholly en- 

 grossed with the momentous struggle going on be- 

 tween them. 



RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE.* 



ONE of these birds was shot near Anglesea Ab- 

 bey, on the 27th of September 1821, previously to 

 which there was no instance to my knowledge of 

 its having occurred in this neighbourhood ; but since 

 then many other individuals have been met with, and 

 the species appears to be getting more and more 

 plentiful each year. In 1839, during the last week 

 in June, a nest was found containing numerous eggs, 

 which were taken, and hatched under a hen in Bot- 

 tisham Park. This kind of partridge is tolerably plen- 

 tiful in some parts of Norfolk and Suffolk, whence 

 probably our Cambridgeshire birds have originally 

 come. We have occasionally dressed them for the 

 table, but found the flesh decidedly inferior to that 

 of the more common sort. 



* Perdix rubra, Temm. 



