156 THE SHOOTER'S GUIDE. 



into the crevices of the ground caused by the heat; as 

 the season cannot he too dry for them. 



The cock partridge weighs about fourteen ounces, 

 the hen twelve. While they are young and their 

 plumage is not complete, they may be distinguished 

 from the old ones by the first feather of the wing, 

 which terminates in a point like a lancet; whereas in 

 those which are not of the last bnxxl, this feather is 

 round at the extremity 5 but this distinction ceases af- 

 ter the first moulting : also, the bill of the young 

 bird is brown, while that of the old one is a bluish 

 white ; the legs of the old one are grey, those of the 

 young, yellow. When they become game (or as 

 termed by sportsmen black tails) the cock in gene- 

 ral may be distinguished by the bay feathers on his 

 breast, forming a sort of horse-shoe. This, however, 

 is by no means a certain rule, Mr. Montagu informs 

 us, that happening to kill nine birds one day, with 

 very little variation as to the bay marks on the breast, 

 he was induced to open them ail, 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, after the first or second year, seems the 

 only certain mark or distinction. The truth of Mr. 

 Montagu's assertions the compiler has witnessed in a 

 similar way; and therefore is not inclined to credit 

 thfe account of Mr. Thornhill, although he roundly 

 asserts this as a certain distinction. In the last- men- 

 tioned gfeJltlfejMttrfs Shooting Directory, when speak- 



