XVlll CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



as compared with English — Diifcrence between Shooting in our Coverts 

 and Shooting in the English Preserves — Mr. Fowler's statements as regards 

 our Game, and American Sporting generally — IIow erroneous his views — 

 Killing clean — The advantages of nice Shooting — Distances that Birds 



should be killed 



CHAPTER YI 



The Partridge — Their wide dissemination — 'Where found — Nomenclature — 

 Description — Habits — AVhen shy and wild — Perching upon trees — They 

 delight in the open country — Time of feeding — Time of leaving their roost 

 — Basking in the mid-day sun — Ridding themselves of Vermin — Not 

 strictly migratory — During deep snows — The Running Season — The course 

 they pursue at this season — Numbers taken in traps — AYliat course the 

 prudent Sportsman should pursue at this inclement season — Their Fecun- 

 dity — Period of Pairing — More ]\Iale Birds batched than Females — Battles 

 resulting from this circumstance — This fact well established in the English 

 variet}' — The destruction of the surplus Males — Completion of their Nests ; 

 where placed ; how constructed — The Eggs ; their number — Fecundity of 

 the English Partridge — Fecundity of the American — Period of Incubation 

 — Their Habits while Setting — Strictly Monogamous — When the Young arc 

 able to fly — During inclement weather — Leaving the nest — Actions of 

 the Young Birds, of the Parents, in time of danger — Their affection for 

 their Progeny — Battle with Snakes — Snakes '^charmi?!// JBirds ;" vulgar 

 error — Domestication — Their wild nature — Cannot bear close confinement 

 — The Author's Experience — Two broods in a season; how accounted for — 

 Full grown — Associated in Coveys — Their Call — Their Habits at this sea- 

 son — Roosting; their peculiar mode — Food — !Mr. Skinner's opinion as to 

 Food — Feeding on Mountain Laurel; Cases of Poisoning in consequence; 

 how treated — Old and Young Birds — Those shot in the neighborhood of 

 the Tapahannock — Fine Birds shot by George D. 'Wcthcrill, Esij. — Their 

 numbers in different localities — Difference between the English and Ameri- 

 can Bird — Size of the former — American Partridge not a Quail; their 

 many striking differences — Quails among the ancient Athenians — Running 

 Season — An immense drove encountered — Their actions at this season — 

 Causes of these migrations — Flight of the Partridge — Whirring noise ; 

 how produced — Rapidity and force of Flight — Much more hardy than the 

 English Bird — Average duration of life — Change of Plumage — Instances 

 mentioned by Mr. Daniel in the English variety — A pied one in possession 

 of the Author; another, of Mr. Gratz; another in Academy of Natural 

 Sciences — Specimens in the British .Museum — Buffou's statement — What 

 to be attributed to — A AVhitc Snii)e — A Yellow Reed-Bird — A remarkable 

 Partridge; Avhere shot; description of same — Anecdote — The importance 

 of studying the Natural History of Game Birds — Pot-Huntcrs; their 

 Motto; how to act if in company with such a fellow — Furtlier Hints on 

 the Habits of Partridges — Numbers caught in Nets — Numbers of Quails 

 in the Old AVorld — Horse-hair Nooses — Figure of 4 Trap — The barbarous 

 practice of eating their eggs — Driving Partridges, as practised in the 



