100 



Zoological Society 



"On the 8th of December 1860, Mr. Sayer, a bird-stuffer at 

 Norwich, showed me the Partridge's leg and ball of earth which I 

 recently placed in your hands, and, in answer to my inquiries, gave 

 me the following particulars: — 'A gentleman, whose name he did 

 not know, but whose face was quite familiar to him as an occasional 

 visitor to his shop, brought the leg to him a day or two before, 

 stating that the bird to which it belonged had been seen, on a heavy- 

 land farm in Suffolk, hobbling along in a very unusual manner, and 

 was with little difficulty run down and secured. It was then found 

 that the lower half of one leg was imbedded in a mass of earth, which 



raised it considerably from the ground, and necessarily kept the 

 limb in a bent position. The bird was half starved.' 



" The lump, measuring 7| inches in circumference, and weighing 

 6| oz., had become as hard as stone, and certainly in that state ac- 

 counted for the bird not having been able to free itself from the en- 

 cumbrance. Two toes only are visible, of which one has the nail 

 torn off level with the edge of the mass itself. From the upper part 

 protrudes a short bit of straw, and this being entangled round the 

 foot probably by degrees collected the soil, which may also have 

 been hardened by the frost at night. The unfortunate bird may, too, 

 have been wounded in the leg, and thus unable to endure the pain 

 of removing the earth when it first began to accumulate. I have no 

 reason to doubt Mr. Sayer's statement, and believe he told me what 



