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THE PARTRIDGE. 



The partridge is an inhabitant of all the temperate parts of 

 Europe. The extremes of heat and cold are unfavourable to its 

 propagation ; and it flourishes best in cultivated countries, living 

 principally on the labours of the husbandman. In Sweden 

 these birds burrow beneath the snow ; and the whole covey 

 crowd together under this shelter to guard against the intense 

 cold. In Greenland the partridge is brown during summer; 

 but as soon as winter sets in, it becomes clothed with a thick 

 and warm down, and its exterior assumes the colour of the snows. 

 Near the mouth of the river Ol, in Russia, the partridges are 

 iu such quantities, that the adjacent mountains are crowded 

 with them. These birds have been seen variegated with white, 

 and sometimes entirely white, where the climate could not be 

 supposed to have any influence in this variation, and even 

 among those whose plumage was of the usual colour. 



Partridges have ever held a distinguished place at the tables 

 of the luxurious, both in this country and in France. We have 

 an old distich, 



If the partridge had the woodcock's thigh, 

 'Twould be the best bird that e'er did fly. 



They generally pair early in February ; and sometimes after 

 pairing, if the weather be very severe, they collect together again, 

 and form into packs. The female lays her eggs, usually from 

 fifteen to eighteen in number, in a rude nest of dry leaves and 

 grass, formed upon the ground : these are of a greenish-grey 

 colour. The period of incubation is about three weeks. So 



