8o THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



to run as soon as they are hatched, are quickly 

 able to fly, having several sets of quills before 

 they reach maturity. Partridges roost on the 

 ground at all seasons, and the rambler over the 

 fields may often see the spots where they have 

 slept marked by a ring of droppings. The 

 Partridge is very fond of dusting itself and of 

 basking in the warm sunshine on the bare parts 

 of the fields ; and in autumn it is especially fond 

 of haunting the turnips and the stubbles. The 

 Partridge feeds largely on grain and seeds, the 

 tender shoots of clover and other plants, on 

 blackberries, and on ants' eggs the latter being 

 especially relished by the chicks. 

 Eastern The much more handsome RED-LEGGED PART- 



counties, 



Sussex to RIDGE (Caccabis rufa) is not a British bird at all, 

 in the strict acceptance of the term, for it was 

 originally introduced into our islands upwards of a 

 hundred years ago. In spite, however, of its being 

 well able to take care of itself, it still remains a 

 comparatively rare and local bird, probably because 

 the exact ground warm sandy soils suited to- 

 its increase is not sufficiently widespread. There 

 are many game preservers who view the introduc- 

 tion of the Red-legged Partridge into this country 

 as a mixed blessing ; indeed, on some estates on to 

 which the bird has spread it is persecuted almost 

 as relentlessly as a Crow or a Magpie ; and this be- 

 cause of its extraordinarily pugnacious disposition. 

 The English Partridge is no match for it, and in 

 certain districts has been almost exterminated by 

 its more quarrelsome ally. By the way, for stating 

 this in an account of the life-history of the Red- 

 legged Partridge in my work on " Our Rarer 

 Birds" I was taken to task by one of my reviewers; 



