The Partridge. 83 



most usual fuel, and a fireplace was quite a room within a 

 room. To this novel domicile they were confined by a wire 

 screen placed in front, while the aperture of the flue was 

 stopped up with a bag full of straw, in order to keep out 

 the draught; and as the chimney was placed opposite a large 

 window, they did not want for light. I fed them on canary 

 and hemp seed, French rape seed, bread, chopped cabbage, and 

 fresh grass, and a few scraps of meat now and then: a diet 

 upon which they seemed to thrive perfectly well, and soon 

 became exceedingly tame and gentle. 



After I had kept them for some time, they disappeared one 

 day; how? no one could tell me; and I never suspected that 

 the perdrix aux choux, upon which I partially made my dinner 

 a day or two afterwards, were anything but relations of my 

 pets, and not their identical selves. When I did find out the 

 truth, it was too late to prevent the mischief. I quite forget 

 now for what reason they had been sacrificed, or whether 

 Nanon Magat, our then cook, had perpetrated the deed, almost 

 of sacrilege, on her own responsibility, or at the request of 

 some higher authority. 



"Que voulez-vous, Monsieur": was the only answer I suc- 

 ceeded in getting to my passionate demands, rather than 

 entreaties, for an explanation of the cruel act. " Que voule%- 

 vous? ce n^ est pas ma faute." 



The Partridge, la Perdrix grise in French, das gemeine 

 Rebhuhn in German, Tetrao perdrix of Linnasus, is a plump 

 round bird, measuring twelve or thirteen inches in length, 

 and sparsely covered with reddish brown feathers. The fore- 

 head, a streak above the eyes, and the throat are chesnut 

 brown; the neck and breast are ash grey, marked with fine 

 black lines; on the middle of the breast is a horse-shoe- 

 shaped mark of dark chesnut, which is almost wanting in 

 the female. The wing feathers are dusky, with red cross 

 bars. The tail, which is very short, is reddish brown. 



The Grey Partridge is common to most European countries, 



