112 GALLINACEOUS BIRDS— PARTRIDGES 



storm, it turned very cold and a thick crust of ice was 

 formed on top of the deep snow. Many coveys on one 

 of my favorite shooting grounds were imprisoned and 

 the birds perished. Where I had shot scores of birds 

 in a day one year, the next autumn I found but one 

 small covey of eight or ten birds in two days of indus- 

 trious tramping behind good dogs. The Legislature 

 was appealed to, and a law providing a close season of 

 several years* duration was passed, and to the credit 

 of the sportsmen of the State it was obeyed, with the 

 result that the birds were again abundant at the end 

 of the close time and have been fairly abundant in 

 Ohio ever since. 



After a severe snow, but a few years ago, which pre- 

 vented the partridges from obtaining food, the Lou- 

 donville Gun Club (in Ohio) requested the farmers to 

 clear a protected spot on their farms and agreed to 

 scatter the necessary food on such places, whether 

 they were permitted to hunt on the premises or not, 

 and Mr. Pond, the editor of the Sportsman s Review^ 

 well says, the example is one which should be fol- 

 lowed by all gun clubs in localities where such con- 

 ditions may exist. 



The partridge is distributed from New England and 

 Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and west to South Da- 

 kota, Kansas, and Texas. As civilization has moved 

 westward this bird has gone with it, and is now 

 found over a larger area in the Western States than 

 formerly. It has been introduced into California and 

 the Salt Lake valley, and should do well in these 

 places. These partridges are most abundant to-day in 

 the Southern States from North Carolina and Georgia 



