142 HISTORY OF 



these contests, the bird which conies off victorious takes pos- 

 session of the female seraglio, as it is certain they have no faitii- 

 ful attachments. 



CHAP. IX. 



OF THE PARTRIDGE, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



The Partridge may be particularly considered as belonging 

 to the sportsman. It is a bird which even our laws have taken 

 under protection ; and, like a peacock or a hen, may be ranked 

 as a private property. The only difference now is, that we feed 

 one in our farms, the other in our yards : that these are content- 

 ed captives •, those, servants that have it in their power to change 

 their master, by changing their habitation.* 



" These birds," says Willoughby, " hold the principal place in 

 the feasts and entertainments of princes ; without which their 

 feasts are esteemed ignoble, vulgar, and of no account. The 

 Frenchmen do so highly value, and are so fond of, the partridge, 



1 This account is from the Journal CEconomique, and may he relied on. 



* Tlie length of the partridge is about 13 inches. The bill is light brown ; 

 eyes hazel ; the general colour of its plumage is brown and ash, elegantly 

 mixed with black ; each feather is streaked down tlie middle with buff 

 colour ; the sides of the head are tawny ; under each eye there Ls a small 

 saffron-coloured spot, which has a granulated appearance, and between the 

 eye and the ear a naked skin of a bright scarlet, wliich is not very conspicu- 

 ous but in old birds ; on the breast tliere is a crescent of a deep chesnut 

 colour ; the tail is short ; the legs are of a greenish white, and are furnish- 

 ed with a small knob behind. The female has no crescent on the breast, 

 and her colours in general are not so distinct and bright as those of the 

 male. 



Partridges pair early in the spring; the female lays from fourteen to 

 eighteen or twenty eggs, making her nest of dry leaves or grass upon the 

 ground. The young birds learn to run as soon as hatched, frequently en. 

 cumbered with part of the shell sticking to them. It is not uncommon to 

 introduce partridges under the common hen, which Iiatches and rears tliem 

 as her own. In this case, the young birds require to be fed Aiith ants' eggs, 

 which are their favourite food, and without which it is almost impossible 

 to bring them up ; they likewise eat insects, and when full grown, feed on 

 all kinds of grain and young plants. Tlie affection of the partrid^'e for her 

 young is peculiarly strong and lively ; and she is greatly assisted in her cm'e 

 of rearing- them by her mate. 



