COMMON PARTRIDGE. 241 



THE COMMON PARTRIDGE. 



PERDIX CINE RE A. 

 Coleach tomain (mas.) Cearc-thomain. 



THIS well-known game bird is plentiful throughout all the culti- 

 vated tracts of Scotland extending from the Mull of Galloway, 

 where several broods are found annually on a patch of enclosed 

 ground belonging to the Lighthouse Commissioners and overlook- 

 ing the highest cliffs, to Cape Wrath. On the mainland, it seems 

 to have followed naturally upon the reclamation of waste land 

 and the introduction of husbandry; but it does not appear to have 

 ventured beyond the circle of the Inner Hebrides, where it is pro- 

 bably confined to three islands, viz., Islay, Mull, and Skye. In 

 Buchanan's "Travels in the Western Hebrides" (1795), I find it 

 stated that partridges were introduced into Harris by Mackenzie 

 of Seaforth, about 80 years ago ; and also into Lewis, where I have 

 been informed they have since been re-introduced more than once, 

 but without good results. They do not thrive in these remote 

 islands, and are now said to be extinct, though there are numerous 

 corn and turnip fields at the present day to afford them both feed- 

 ing and shelter. 



Regarding the distribution of the Partridge on the western main- 

 land, I am indebted to various correspondents for recent observa- 

 tions. Mr Harvie Brown writes that "it is very scarce in the 

 west of Sutherlandshire, though a few coveys may be seen near 

 Loch Inver." " I observed," he adds, " one or two pairs at Rose- 

 hall, where I imagine they are not uncommon." Mr Elwes in- 

 forms me that it is common in all the cultivated parts of Islay; 

 and also that, in the district of Gairloch in west Ross-shire, as 

 many as ten brace have been killed in a day. Mr Anderson states 

 that in Ayrshire and Wigtownshire it has of late years increased 

 considerably in numbers, many of the coveys haunting the hill 

 farms at a much higher elevation than had previously been known. 

 During a recent drive from Girvan to Stranraer (September, 1870) 

 I noticed upwards of twenty dead partridges all in a fresh state, 

 and lying at intervals of less than fifty yards close to the turnpike 

 road, along the side of which three or four telegraph wires are 

 conducted on poles. These wires are very destructive to passing 



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