COMMON PARTRIDGE. 453 



throat elongated into hackles. In East Thibet a third species (P. hodgsonia) 

 also occurs, which is somewhat more distantly allied to our bird, and has 

 most of the feathers of the underparts tipped with a black crescent. 



The presence of the Partridge depends to a great extent on the 

 co-existence of high farming with strict preserving. The bird is most 

 fastidious in the choice of a haunt. The ground may be too wet and cold ; 

 it may be too wooded ; or the hedgerows may not afford sufficient cover in 

 the nesting-season ; or the fields may be too large and open : all these 

 conditions are unfavourable to the increase and successful breeding of the 

 Partridge. The places best adapted to it are rich well-cultivated districts, 

 where the soil is light and sandy, and where the fields are comparatively 

 small and bounded by thick low hedges. Sometimes the Partridge frequents 

 sheltered places near the moors, and even wanders to them from the 

 adjoining fields, but never in great numbers. It is, however, very fond of 

 straying to waste grounds and commons ; but it rarely enters woods. 



The Partridge is a thorough ground-bird and rarely perches on trees — • 

 so rarely, in fact, that only one or two isolated instances have been 

 recorded, and these have been when the ground was covered with snow or 

 when the bird was pursued by dogs. Like the Pheasant the Partridge runs 

 with great speed, and when not alarmed will walk about and feed after the 

 manner of domestic poultry. It always prefers to escape from its enemies 

 by running, and will often thread its way up a tangled hedge-bottom with 

 great celerity, only taking wing when absolutely compelled. It often 

 squats close to the earth when menaced by danger, trusting for safety to 

 the similarity between the colour of its plumage and the surroundings. 

 Nevertheless the flight of the Partridge is remarkably swift, and is usually 

 performed by rapid beats of its short rounded wings, which make the well- 

 known whirring sound characteristic of most game birds ; very often, 

 however, especially when just about to alight, the wings are held out, 

 and the bird glides or seems to float through the air, skimming over the 

 hedges and dropping into the cover. The Partridge has learnt to know 

 that a railway- train is not a source of danger; and often enough do we 

 get a sight of a pair or a covey, if it be autumn, quietly feeding in the 

 fields below the embankment, or even on the bank itself. During the heat 

 of the day the Partridge keeps very close, and is especially fond of fre- 

 quenting some open spot, where it loves to dust its plumage in the sandy 

 soil, doubtless for the purpose of freeing itself from parasites. 



Morning and afternoon are the times of the Partridge^s greatest activity ; 

 at other times it may often be flushed from the hedge-bottoms or places 

 overgrown with shrub and fern, whilst fields of turnips or " seeds ■'■' are 

 also favourite places of resort during the middle of the day. The food of 

 the Partridge in spring is chiefly composed of tender shoots of herbage and 

 the grain which it picks up on the newly-sown fields. Later in the season. 



