LEAVES FEOK A GAME BOOK. 207 



direction of the wind, we picked out a comer of a field 

 hemmed in by high hedges, between two and three 

 hundred yards from the furze. Then, placing a basket 

 on the grass, I cut the fastenings, when away went the 

 five brace of birds, clearly overjoyed at regaining their 

 liberty, and, flying straight down wind, they alighted 

 exactly as we hoped, which, however, they were almost 

 bound to do, as we stood directly behind the liberated 

 birds, while the tall hedges on either side shut out all 

 other view of the country. As soon as they settled they 

 began to run about and call and examine their new 

 quarters, while in ten minutes some of them were 

 feeding, as I could see with my binoculars. At intervals 

 of five minutes we released the remainder, the whole 

 of them making straight for the hedge of furze. 

 Finer or healthier birds I never saw, and, though a 

 little food was put down for the next ten days, they 

 had learned to do for themselves long before that 

 time had lapsed, and they eventually paired with their 

 English brothers and sisters and bred well. 



I believe this plan of giving Hungarian partridges 



