68 lewis' AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



Besides thus falling victims to the inclemency of the weather, 

 large numbers are now destroyed, not only by the gun, but by 

 the aid of traps, nets, and other ingenious contrivances ; and we 

 have seen, in former times, the Philadelphia markets, and the 

 villages of the interior, fairly overstocked with live Birds, taken 

 in various ways by the farmer boys. 



When this is the case, it behooves every Sportsman living 

 in the country, or residing in the city, to purchase all Birds 

 thus offered for sale, and keep them till the breaking up of 

 winter, when they may be let loose upon a friend's estate, or 

 turned out into some neighborhood where he is in the habit of 

 shooting, and where, from the nature of the country, they will 

 be apt to remain during the breeding season. By pursuing 

 this course, the provident Sportsman will be richly repaid for 

 all his trouble and humanity, at the coming shooting season, 

 by the number of Birds that will thus be produced in some 

 favorite shooting locality, as the fecundity of the Partridge is 

 extraordinary, and the coveys raised from a few couples of old 

 Birds, in a favorable season, will be sufficient to afford Sport 

 for several days' moderate Shooting, 



PERIOD OF PAIRING. 



Partridges commence pairing in the month of March, early 

 or late, according to the state of the weather ; and, even after 

 separating for the purposes of procreation, it is not unusual 

 for them to reassemble into coveys as before, provided the 

 weather should again become stormy and cold, as is often 

 the case in our changeable climate. There is no doubt but 

 there are more male Birds hatched than females, and this 

 rather singular circumstance gives rise to fierce battles be- 

 tween the Cock Birds for the possession of the females at the 

 coupling season; and to such extent are these encounters car- 

 ried, that they sometimes result in the death of one or both of 

 the rival combatants. This fact is so well established in the 

 English variety, that it is no uncommon thing for the owners 

 of some choice preserves to have the Partridges on their manors 

 netted, soon after the pairing season, and to destroy the sur- 

 plus males, or old bachelors, as they are facetiously termed. 



