Partridges Breeding and Rearing. gi 



noteworthy symptom is the presence of large swellings on 

 each side of the head, sufficiently prominent to be noticeable 

 during the flight of a covey on individual members of it. 

 Wet seasons, of course, serve to account for it. The 

 naturally reared birds escape its ravages, simply because 

 they are wild birds, whereas, on the other hand, those 

 reared under a barn-door fowl, and in a coop do not possess 

 the natural strength of constitution and peculiarity of habit 

 which enable their less pampered congeners either to escape 

 the malady or withstand its attack. 



Another cause of loss among the ranks of the " nut-browns " 

 is one which must call up a ^sympathetic feeling in the breasts 

 of sportsmen, namely, the formation of clay balls upon the 

 feet of young partridges present upon lands of a clayey 

 nature. In damp weather the soil clogs on the little birds' 

 feet, often to such an extent as to render movement impos- 

 sible, when they must needs lag behind the brood, drop 

 down and die of exhaustion or starvation, or from both 

 combined. Nothing can be done for it beyond watching 

 the covies closely, and driving them some little distance 

 carefully, any encumbered chicks will soon be noticed, when 

 they can often be caught and relieved. 



Apart from these, the only other causes of numerical 

 diminution in partridges are such as will be treated of in 

 the following chapter, with the exception of one, which may 

 be regarded as a curious fact of natural history. The natural 

 proportion of the sexes to one another in partridges is 65 

 females to 75 males. The partridge, furthermore, being a 

 strictly monogamous bird, it naturally follows that not only 

 would many of the males be unprovided with mates, but 



