VIRGINIAN PARTRIDGE. 391 



once falls to placing it, so that his companions can easily drive the Par- 

 tridges into it. No sooner is the machine ready, than the net-bearer re- 

 mounts and rejoins the party. The sportsmen separate to a short dis- 

 tance, and follow the Partridges, talking and whistling, clapping their 

 hands, or knocking upon the fence-rails. The birds move with great 

 gentleness, following each other, and are kept in the right direction by 

 the sportsmen. The leading bird approaches and enters the mouth of 

 the net, the others follow in succession, when the net-bearer leaps from 

 his horse, runs up and secures the entrance, and soon dispatches the 

 birds. In this manner, fifteen or twenty Partridges are caught at one 

 driving, and sometimes many hundreds in the course of a day. Most 

 netters give liberty to a pair out of each flock, that the breed may be 

 continued. 



The success of driving depends much on the state of the weather. 

 Drizzly rain or melting snow are the best, for in such weather Partridges 

 and Gallinaceous Birds in general will run to a great distance rather than 

 fly ; whereas if the weather be dry and clear, they generally take to 

 wing the moment they discover an intruder, or squat so that they cannot 

 be driven without very particular care. Again, when the flocks are 

 found in the woods, they run off so briskly and so far, that it is difficult 

 for the net-bearer to place liis machine in time. 



The net is cylindrical, thirty or forty feet in length, by about two in 

 diameter, excepting at the mouth or entrance, where it is rather larger, 

 and at the extremity, where it assumes the form of a bag. It is kept 

 open by means of small wooden hoops, at a distance of two or three feet 

 from each other. The mouth is furnished with a semicircular hoop, 

 sharpened at both ends, which are driven into the ground, thus afford- 

 ing an easy entrance to the birds. Two pieces of netting called wings, of 

 the same length as the cylindrical one, are placed one on each side of the 

 mouth, so as to form an obtuse angle with each other, and are supported 

 by sticks thrust into the ground, the wings having the appearance of 

 two low fences leading to a gate. The whole is made of light and strong 

 materials. 



The Virginian Partridge is easily kept in cages or coops, and soon 

 becomes very fat. Attempts at rearing them from the eggs have gene- 

 rally failed, probably for want of proper care, and a deficiency of insects, 

 on which the young feed. The ordinary food of the species consists of 

 seeds of various kinds, and such berries as grow near the surface of the 



