136 



ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 



appearance, and at once distinguish it from the common 

 species. 



The Red-legged Partridge is plentiful in France and 

 Italy, but does not inhabit Switzerland, Germany, or 

 Holland. In England it has frequently been termed 

 the Guernsey Partridge, from its being met with in 

 that island, from which it is supposed occasionally, but 

 very rarely, to extend its flight to the southern coast of 

 Britain. Of late years it has been introduced with 

 great success into many of our preserves, and the birds 

 that escape from these will probably at no very distant 

 period render it a frequent native of our southern 

 counties. Wherever it obtains ground, it drives the 

 common species out of the preserves, and threatens in 

 time, like the Norway rat, to exterminate the aboriginal 

 race. It prefers hilly situations, and nests in fields and 

 copses, like the common species, but is by no means of 

 so sociable a disposition ; for, although it forms large 

 coveys, the individuals composing them neither keep so 

 close together, nor take flight at the same moment. 

 The female lays from fifteen to eighteen eggs of a dirty 

 white, with scattered reddish spots. 



In captivity this species is more readily tamed than 

 the common. Its flesh is lighter coloured and generally 

 held in higher estimation. 



