56 GALLING. 



The black-cock has the shelter of the bush when the naked 

 wind blows, and the thicket when the rain falls or the snow 

 drives; and as the places which it inhabits are more produc- 

 tive than those of the others, it can range more easily for its 

 food. The habitation of the partridge requires still less 

 shelter, as the winds are not so strong, or the snows so heavy. 

 The seeds on the fields also supply it with a greater abun- 

 dance of winter food ; and, when hard pushed, it comes to 

 the stack-yard for a meal. 



It may seem singular that, while the natives of Asia, 

 Africa, and America are domesticated with us in so great 

 numbers, and so many varieties, our own native gallinidse 

 should be all still in the wild state, or domesticated, or rather 

 tamed, only in partial instances of the individual, but not in 

 any way in the race. But the difference between our climate 

 and the native climates of these foreign birds, is really the 

 cause why they have little or no tendency to go into the 

 wilds ; while the influences of season and climate, very little 

 different from those to which their natures when wild are 

 adapted, are constantly acting upon, and tending to lead back 

 to the state of nature, those individuals of our native genera 

 which are occasionally bred in confinement, or taken and 

 partially tamed. 



In these birds we can trace- a sort of resemblance to the 

 general colour of the places which they inhabit, though we 

 know not well the cause of the colour in either case. The 

 ptarmigan is mossy rock in summer, hoar-frost in autumn, 

 and snow in winter. Grous are brown heather, black-game 

 are peat-bank and shingle, and partridges are clods and 

 withered stalks, all the year round. We do not mean to say 

 that these correspondences of colour with situation are in- 

 tended to hide the birds from their enemies, because, at 

 Nature's table, the gos-hawk is as free and as well provided 

 for as the grous, and the harrier as the partridge. Still, the 



