THE PARTRIDGE 



83 



tame on every side of me, as a badge of the 

 slavery of the people ; and what they wished 

 me to observe as an object of triumph, I 

 always regarded with a kind of secret compas- 

 sion ; yet this people have no game-laws for 

 the remoter parts of the kingdom ; the game 

 is only preserved in a few places for the king, 

 and is free in most places else. In England, 

 the prohibition is general; and the peasant 

 has not a right to what even slaves, as he is 

 taught to call them, are found to possess. 



Of partridges there are two kinds; the gray 

 and the red. 1 The red partridge is the largest 

 of the two, and often perches upon trees ; the 

 gray, with which we are best acquainted in 

 England, is most prolific, and always keeps on 

 the ground. 



The partridge seems to be a bird well 

 known all over the world, as it is found in 

 every country, and in every climate ; as well 

 in the frozen regions about the pole, as the 

 torrid tracts under the equator. It even 

 seems to adapt itself to the nature of the 

 climate where it resides. In Greenland, the 

 partridge, which is brown in summer, as soon 

 as the icy winter sets in, begins to take 

 a covering suited to the season ; it is then 

 clothed with a warm down beneath ; and its 

 outward plumage assumes the colour of the 

 snows amongst which it seeks its food. Thus 

 it is doubly fitted tor the place by the warmth 

 and the colour of its plumage ; the one to de- 

 fend it from the cold, the other to prevent its 

 being noticed by the enemy. Those of Bara- 

 conda, on the other hand, are longer legged, 

 much swifter of foot, and choose the highest 

 precipices and rocks to reside in. 



They all, however, agree in one character, 

 of being immoderately addicted to venery ; 

 and, as some writers affirm, often to an un- 

 natural degree. It is certain the male will 

 pursue the hen even to her nest ; and will 

 break her eggs, rather than not indulge his 

 inclinations. Though the young ones have 

 kept together in flocks during the winter, 

 w'heri they begin to pair in spring, their society 

 disperses, and combats, very terrible with re- 

 spect to each other, ensue. Their manners, 

 in other circumstances, resemble all those of 

 poultry in general : but their cunning and in- 

 stincts seem superior to those of the larger 

 kinds. Perhaps, as they live in the very 

 neighbourhood of their enemies, they have 

 more frequent occasion to put their little arts 

 in practice ; and learn, by habit, the means 

 of evasion or safety. Whenever, therefore, a 

 dog, or other formidable animal, approaches 



1 Modern ornithologists have ascertained many more 

 varieties of partridges. The Greek Partridge is more 

 bulky than the red, with which it has frequently been 

 confounded. The Painted Partridge is a beautiful 

 fpecies belonging to India. See Plate XVIII. fig. 20. 



their nest, the female uses every means to draw 

 him away. She keeps just before him, pre- 

 tends to be incapable of flying, just hops up, 

 and then falls down before him, but never 

 goes off so far as to discourage her pursuer. 

 At length, when she has drawn him entirely 

 away from her secret treasure, she at once 

 takes wing, and fairly leaves him to gaze 

 after her in despair. 



After the danger is over, and the dog with- 

 drawn, she then calls her young, who as- 

 semble at once at her cry, and follow where 

 she leads them. There are generally from 

 ten to fifteen in a covey ; and, if unmolested, 

 they live from fifteen to seventeen years. 



There are several methods of taking them, 

 as is well known ; that by which they are taken 

 in a net with a setting dog, is the most plea- 

 sant, as well as the most secure. The dog, as 

 every body knows, is trained to this exercise 

 by a long course of education: by blows and 

 caresses he is taught to lie down at the word 

 of command ; a partridge is shown him, and 

 he is then ordered to lie down ; he is brought 

 into the field, and when the sportsman per- 

 ceives where the covey lies, he orders his dog 

 to crouch; at length the dog, from habit, 

 crouches wherever he approaches a covey ; 

 and this is the signal which the sportsman re- 

 ceives for unfolding, and covering the birds 

 with his net. A covey thus caught, is some- 

 times fed in a place proper for their reception ; 

 but they can never be thoroughly tamed, like 

 the rest of our domestic poultry. 8 



2 Partridge shooting is one of the most esteemed sports 

 of the British fowler ; and when pursued in a sportsman- 

 like manner, with finely bred dogs, is of considerable 

 interest. The county of Norfolk has been long cele- 

 brated for the number of its partridges, as well as for her 

 zealous agriculturist, Mr Coke, one of the first shots in 

 the kingdom. The following account from Pierce Egan's 

 anecdotes, will give some idea both of the abundance of 

 the partridge, and the excess to which the sport may be 

 carried. 



" The bet between Mr William Coke and Lord 

 Kennedy, was for 200 sovereigns a-side, play or pay, 

 who shot and bagged the greatest number of partridges 

 in two days sporting ; both parties to shoot on the same 



lays, the 26th of September 1S23, and the 4th of Oc- 

 tober in the same season. Mr William Coke to sport 

 upon his uncle's manors in Norfolk ; and Lord Kennedy 

 in any part of Scotland he pleased. The result of Mr 

 Coke's first day's shooting was eighty and a half brace 

 of birds bagged. On Saturday, October 4, Mr W. Coke 

 took the field soon after six o'clock in the morning : he 



>vas accompanied by his uncle, T. W. Coke, Esq, M. P., 

 and by two umpires : Colonel Dixon for Mr Coke, and 

 P. S. Blunt, Esq. for Lord Kennedy ; also by two of 

 his friends, Sir. H. Goodrich, Bart., and F. Hollyhorke, 

 Esq. He was attended by several gamekeepers, and by 

 one dog only to pick up the game. Several respect- 

 able neighbouring yeomen volunteered their services in 

 assisting to beat for game, and rendered essential service 

 throughout the day. Mr Coke sported over part of the 

 Wigton and Egmere manors. The morning was foggy, 

 and the turnips were so wet that the birds would not ]i 

 among them. Very little execution was done, in con. 



