38 THE PARTRIDGE. 



by that element, the whole were then observed to drop into the 

 water. 



It has long been a received opinion among sportsmen as well 

 as naturalists, that the female partridge has none of the bay 

 feathers on the breast (forming a kind of horse shoe) like the 

 male. This, however, on dissection, has proved to be a mis- 

 take ; for Mr. Montagu happening to kill nine birds in one day, 

 with very little variation as to the bay mark on the breast, he 

 was led to open them all, and discovered that five of them were 

 females. On carefully examining the plumage, he found that 

 the males could only be known by the superior brightness of 

 colour about the head ; which alone, after the first or second 

 year, seems to be the mark of distinction. 



