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My Indian Partridge.



MY INDIAN PARTRIDGE.


By Lieut.-Col. A. Lloyd.


I have been asked to write a short account of my Indian Grey

Partridge. Sultan has honoured me with his company for over eight

years, and he was brought to England from India a few months

before he was given to me. The first two winters Sultan felt the

cold greatly and used to huddle up to the fire. Now he seems fairly

well acclimatised, but of course needs care ; has constant fires ; even

in summer he mostly has a fire in the mornings. Sultan runs about

the dining- and drawing-rooms in the daytime, and at night goes up

on to the sideboard in the dining-room to roost. When I go to bed

I persuade Sultan to go into his cage, and I take him up to my

room. A piece of flannel is put on the floor of his cage. One night

the parlourmaid forgot it, and Sultan’s language on the subject while

being carried upstairs was decidedly unparliamentary. Sultan loves

squatting on my knee and being stroked, and he delights in a fight

with a newspaper crumpled up and pushed backwards and forwards.

Sultan makes the “ feathers ” fly and crows in triumph.


In summer Sultan enjoys walks in the garden and runs after

me like a little dog ; he takes no notice of Robins and such small fry,

but if Thrushes or Blackbirds venture near him he chases them


Sultan gets very excited if he sees poultry on the common,

swears at them, and has to be kept from dashing after them.


Sultan hardly ever flies, likes running up sloping roofs, and

climbing up inside the creepers on the house. He is afraid of nothing,

wishes to attack dogs, and one day pursued a stoat, which fortunately

did not see him.


Sultan has strong likes and dislikes for people, and never

changes his mind about them, but to some people he is indifferent

and takes no notice of them. He was very fond of one gardener I

had, and spent hours in the garden watching John work, keeping

about a yard ahead of him. The next gardener Sultan hated ; they

could not be in the garden together, as Sultan pecked the gardener’s

legs so much that he could not work at all.



