Good Partridge country. 



THE COMMON PARTRIDGE 



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HO does not know and love 

 this little sporting bird, 

 with its nut-brown plum- 

 age, whirring flight, and 

 skirling call notes ? It is 

 plentiful in nearly all 

 cultivated districts, and, 

 indeed, so numerous, where 

 preserving is resorted to on a large 

 scale, that in Norfolk I have counted 

 as many as seven pairs in a single field 

 during the early spring. In high moor- 

 land districts, where it may sometimes 

 be found breeding on the same ground 

 as the red grouse, it is, of course, much 

 less numerous, smaller in size, and, 

 epicures say, of better flavour. 



The Common Partridge, although shy 

 and wary after being shot at, is really a 

 bold bird. It will sit unconcernedly on 

 a railway embankment within a few feet 

 of an express train thundering past at 

 sixty or seventy miles an hour, and has 

 been known to face a dog in defence of 

 its chicks. The individual figured in the 

 photogravure was so courageous that 



she allowed me to remove a number of 

 blades of grass that trailed across her 

 back in such a way as to impede my view, 

 and only hissed and pecked my hand 

 when I touched her. 



Although, apparently, ill-adapted for 

 aquatic progression, this bird has been 

 known to drop into the rough waters of 

 a tidal river, and, in spite of a strong 

 current, swim to the bank again in 

 safety. Awkward accidents, however, 

 sometimes happen to whole coveys when 

 suddenly startled by some unexpected 

 form of danger. The birds will fly out 

 seawards, drop into the waves, and 

 perish ; or will attempt to fly in front 

 of a moving railway train and get struck 

 down, or crash with fatal violence into 

 a meshwork of telegraph wires. 



A Partridge's nest consists of a few 

 blades of dead grass, bits of bracken, or 

 leaves, placed in a slight hollow amongst 

 the long grass at the foot of a hedgerow, 

 under a bramble bush, in a bunch of 

 nettles, in mowing grass, corn, or even 

 on the top of a rick. The bird, indeed, 



