130 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



in the reign of the second Charles, and since then it has 

 been successfully introduced by several noblemen on their 

 estates. 



This bird is now found more or less in all parts of 

 England, but it is most plentiful in the counties of 

 Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Dor- 

 setshire, Norfolk, Essex, Yorkshire, and Oxfordshire. It 

 is a native of several of the countries in the south of 

 Europe, and it is also found in the Channel Islands. As 

 an article of food it is not so highly esteemed as its 

 English relative, the flesh being whiter and less succulent ; 

 while as an object of sport it certainly does not meet with 

 much appreciation, as it is wild in its habits, and cannot 

 easily be induced to fly, but runs a very considerable 

 distance. When wounded it frequently secretes itself in 

 some hole, rabbit-burrow, or any similar place of conceal- 

 ment. 



The favourite haunts of these birds are heaths, com- 

 mons, waste lands, and the bushes and copses of hilly 

 grounds ; they are also to be found, like the common part- 

 ridge, in stubbles, turnip-fields, and cultivated lands ; they 

 run with great quickness, and sometimes indulge in very 

 long flights ; indeed, they are occasionally found on the sea- 

 shore, so completely exhausted and fatigued as to be quite 

 unable to escape capture. 



Cornfields and patches of grass or clover are the places 

 commonly selected by the Red-legged Partridge for nest- 

 ing. The nest is composed of dried grass and leaves, and 

 sometimes a few feathers roughly scratched together. 

 According to some writers, the nest has been found in the 

 thatch of a hayrick. The eggs are of a reddish, yellowish- 

 white, spotted and speckled with brownish-red, and vary 



