210 



PARTRIDGE. 



COMMON PAKTRIDGE. 



Perdix cinerea, LATHAM. JENTN5. 



Tetrao perdix, LINN^US. 



Perdix A Partridge. Cinerca Ash- coloured. 



AN acquired taste is a proverbial expression, and, as such, 

 redolent of truth. There is too, if I may so say, such a thing 

 as an acquired scent, and that of a turnip field, as a rendezvous 

 of the Partridge, is a good instance of it. It is not, 'a priori,' 

 particularly agreeable, and yet I think that I shall not be 

 adjudged to be far wrong by some, at all events, of my readers, 

 in pronouncing it to be one of a most exhilarating and pleasant 

 nature in the month of October. 



Partridges are found in most temperate climes, and are 

 probably nowhere more numerous than in England. They 

 belong to Europe, and also it is said to Asia and Africa: in 

 the former they occur from the south of Siberia, through 

 Russia, to the shores of the Mediterranean; in Norway they 

 are rare, ^and only occur in the extreme south, which is 

 somewhat remarkable. In Africa, in Barbary and Egypt. 



They are plentiful throughout England, Scotland, Ireland, 

 and Wales, and are sometimes found in very wild situations, 

 where they would not naturally be looked for. 



The Rev. Gr. Low mentions in the 'Fauna Orcadensis/ that 

 in his time Partridges were introduced into Waas, one of the 

 Orkney Islands, but unsuccessfully. More lately the experi- 

 ment has been again tried by the Earl of Orknejr, who 

 introduced them into Ronsay, in 1840. Since then Mr. 

 Balfour, of Trenaby, has made a similar trial in Shapinsay; 

 and in both thete islands the result has been successful. 



