AFFINITY AND HOSTILITY. 11 



once obtained a firm footing, the disappearance 

 of our indigenous partridge (perdix cinerea) has 

 been the result: one to be regretted in every 

 point of view, sporting and culinary; for, with 

 so many disadvantages, the foreigner does not 

 possess a single redeeming quality to justify his 

 usurpation. 



It has often struck me as a singular fact in 

 natural history, that when two species which are 

 very closely allied are brought into juxtaposition, 

 the weaker or less warlike will gradually give way 

 to the other, and eventually become exceedingly 

 rare or extinct. It would appear that similarity 

 in habits, as well as a near relationship or affinity, 

 is a necessary condition. The old English black 

 rat (mus rattus), now almost unknown in his 

 native land, had existed in this country for ages 

 on good terms with the water rat (arvicola am- 

 phibius), and even with the common mouse 

 with whom he was specifically allied until the 

 importation of the voracious grey rat (mus de- 

 cumanus), to whose superior strength he was at 

 last obliged to succumb. Thus the pheasant and 

 the common partridge had prospered and in- 

 creased on the same manor for centuries, until 

 the latter was in some instances turned out of 

 his inheritance by his continental relative. Two 

 species or rather varieties of the common 



