BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



Charles ii,, who turned out several pair near Windsor. It is 

 said that the experiment failed, though some of the birds, or 

 their descendants, were seen for a few years afterwards. 



Daniel says : ' The late Duke of Northumberland pre- 

 served many, in hopes of their increasing upon his manors : 

 but the late Earl of Rochford and Marquis of Hertford have 

 been at the most expense and trouble to establish them in 

 this country : both these noblemen had not only numbers of 

 the birds sent over from France, but also imported many 

 thousands of their eggs, which were hatched under Hens and 

 set at liberty at a proper age : by this means there are now 

 plenty of the red birds upon the latter nobleman's estate near 

 Orford in Suffolk.' 



Lord Rochford's experiment was less successful : they 

 increased, but did not remain upon his property — St. Osyth, 

 coveys having been found some miles therefrom, presum- 

 ably having wandered in search of more congenial soil. Daniel, 

 in 1777, found a covey of fourteen within two miles of Col- 

 chester, and he remarks that for half an hour they baffled 

 the exertions of a brace of good pointers to make them rise 

 from the thick turnips. He also remarks upon their pro- 

 pensity for going to ground in rabbit burrows when wounded. 



The red-leg nowhere gained much favour during the first 

 half of the century : the belief that it drove away the English 

 bird, added to its pedestrian habit, made it unpopular. On 

 some manors the eggs were destroyed whenever found until 

 driving became fairly established : then its merits began to 

 receive recognition again. ' Of late,' says a writer in 1861, 

 ' it has been a practice among some manorial proprietors to 

 encourage the French or red-legged partridge in our island 

 ... it is found to thrive well.' 



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