32 VARIETIES OP SHOOTING. 



PARTRIDGE SHOOTING. 



As in the case of grouse shooting, I shall here first allude 

 to the various birds likely to be met with on partridge 

 manors, then the nature of that ground, the best dogs for 

 the purpose of finding these birds, and the gun most suitable 

 for the sport. 



BIRDS FOUND ON OUR SOUTHERN MANORS. 



The Common Partridge and the French or Red-legged 

 Partridge are the only two varieties met with in this 

 country, the latter being now very rare. Some years ago it 

 was introduced, and bred in considerable numbers in Norfolk 

 and Suffolk; but it was found to give such bad sport, that it 

 has been almost exterminated. 



The COMMON PARTRIDGE (Perdix cineria) is so well-known 

 as to make it unnecessary to describe its appearance, and I 

 shall therefore do little more than allude to its habits. The 

 length of the cock bird averages twelve inches and a half, the 

 female being generally a little smaller. The latter is also 

 distinguished by having the chesnut-coloured patch round 

 the beak of a lighter shade and smaller in size than that of 

 the male, so that it does not extend backwards beyond the 

 perpendicular of the eyes. The lower breast also is white, and 

 does not put on the dark chesnut patch till the second or 

 sometimes the third year. The bars on the flanks are like- 

 wise broader than on the male. Young birds before their 

 first moult may be known by the absence of the red mark 

 behind the eye and by the uniformly brownish-yellow shade 

 of the ground-colour of their plumage, the bars being of a 

 dark brown. Partridges pair in February, and begin to lay 

 in April. The nest is made on the ground with a few leaves 

 and bents, and the spot selected is generally either in mowing 

 grass or clover, or in corn. The hen lays from twelve to 

 twenty eggs, which are of an olive-brown colour, one inch 

 and four lines long by one inch in breadth. From thirty to 

 thirty-six eggs have been found in one nest; but in such 

 instances, two hens must have laid in it, as not unfrequently 

 happens. The partridge sits twenty-one days, and the 

 general hatching time in the south of England is in the latter 



