PARTRIDGE. 



many years ago, a beautiful oil painting, by J. Wolff (that best of 

 bird painters), of a group of Ptarmigan, with their appropriate 

 background. They are very pretty birds. In summer the 

 plumage is grey on the upper part and white on the lower, the 

 feet well feathered down to the toes, a bright scarlet wattle over 

 the eyes, and black lines down the middle of their white quill 

 feathers. In winter they become nearly all pure white ; of this 

 colour they are mostly to be seen in the poulterers' shops. 



THE PARTRIDGE (Perdrix cinerea) is not a native here. There 

 was a pair in the place when we first came here, which had an occa- 

 sional brood, but they died out some years ago. We hatched some 

 Partridge eggs in the incubator, and tried to rear them in the foster- 

 mother, like chickens, but without success. They seemed to thrive 

 at first, and took their food well, but dropped off daily, and were 

 all dead in a fortnight from no apparent cause. They were quite 

 well one day, and dead the next. We then got four pairs of 

 full-grown birds. They arrived during frost in winter, so we 

 had to keep them enclosed for a time till thaw came, and fed 

 them on fresh cabbage and grain. We let them out two at a 

 time, to let them get accustomed to the place, for fear they 

 should fly away together if they were all set at liberty at once. 

 They remained near for some time, coming back for the food laid 

 out for them, and sometimes feeding with the chickens, or joining 

 the Pheasants. 



They very soon took to feeding on the seashore, among the 

 cast-up seaweed, and finding " hoppers " and other marine deli- 

 cacies, showing rather a remarkable taste for inland bred birds 



125 



