146 NATURAL HISTORY. 



affection for particular spots of ground, so that in shooting Partridges it often happens that a covey, 

 when disturbed, will fly to an adjoining field, and being roused a second time from their retreat, will 

 fly back again to their original starting-point ; and this manoeuvre the writer has seen repeated more 

 than once by the same covey, until the continued havoc caused by the guns would force the 

 survivors to fly farther away for safety's sake. So closely does the plumage of the Partridge 

 assimilate to the stubble on the ground, that it is an impossibility to see the birds as they sit ; and 

 the first intimation of their presence is generally the "whirr" of the rising bird, as he betakes 

 himself, with a croaking chuckle, to a safer retreat. The Partridge is a useful bird to the farmer, 



COMMON PARTRIDGE. 



feeding on slugs to a large extent, caterpillars, and grubs, so as entirely to counterbalance any little 

 injury that it may do to the corn-fields. 



The finest representatives of the Partridge are, undoubtedly, the Snow Cocks or Snow 

 Partridges, which are found in the mountains of Asia Minor, the Caucasus, Altai Mountains, and 

 the Himalayas, and high ranges of Tibet. The following account of the habits of the Himalayan 

 Snow Partridge (Tetraoyallus himalayensis) is from the pen of Mr. Wilson, better known as 

 " Mountaineer " : 



" It is confined exclusively to the snowy ranges, or the large spin's jutting from them, which 

 are elevated above the limits of forest, but is driven by the snows of winter to perform one, and, 

 in some places, two annual migrations to the middle regions. In summer they are only seen near 

 the limits of vegetation. In Koonour (Kunawur) they are common at all seasons, from Chunee 

 upwards ; but on the Gangetic Hills, from June till August, however much a person wanders about 

 on the highest accessible places, but few are met with, and I have no doubt whatever but that 



