198 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



If Scotland can claim the red grouse as her 

 national game - bird, England may certainly lay 

 claim to the grey partridge as her own, although 

 the compact-looking active bird is to be found in 

 suitable localities throughout the United Kingdom. 

 Cultivation, which is as a rule so injurious to 

 wild game-birds, has proved beneficial so far as 

 the propagation of the partridge is concerned ; for 

 he, like the sparrow, thrives best close to the corn- 

 fields, or we might say wherever agricultural pursuits 

 are in full working order. 



The bird's range is a varied one. He is in the 

 fields as a general rule, no matter whether the 

 crops of wheat, oats, barley, turnips, or marigolds 

 are on or off. The greater part of the year is passed 

 by the partridge in the fields. Some writers have 

 mentioned moor-partridges in a way that might 

 almost lead the general public to believe that 

 we have two distinct species of the bird, or at 

 least a well-marked variety of the common one; 

 but this is not the case, we have only one grey 

 partridge. 



When I write of fields as the bird's principal 

 habitat both by day and night, our readers must 



