THE GAME-BIRDS AND RAILS 17 
The COMMON PARTRIDGE is the more [ 
abundant of the two species. Though more 
sober in coloration, it is still a beautiful bird. 
The “ horse-shoe”’ mark, borne on the breast, 
so characteristic of this bird, is sot con- 
fined to the males, as is generally believed. 
“Yielding,” says Professor Newton, “ perhaps 
im economic importance to the red grouse, 
what may be called the social influence of 
the partridge is greater than that excited by 
any other wild bird.” 
This bird displays great courage and 
affection in defence of its eggs or young. 
A story illustrating this is told of a gentle- 
man, who, ‘“ whilst superintending his plough- 
men, saw a partridge glide off her nest, so 
near the foot of one of his plough-horses 
that he thought the eggs must be crushed; 
this, however, was not the case. ... He ¥¢, es “6 
saw the old bird return to her nest the SMG j yee (ey re a ey 
instant he left the spot. It was evident te han z 2 sae ct Pat : | 
Photo by WH’. P. Dando, F.Z.S. 
that the next round of the plough must Hie RAR Sede. 
bury the eggs and nest in the furrow. His 
surprise was great when, returning with the 
plough, he came to the spot and saw the 
nest indeed, but the eggs and bird were gone. An idea struck him that she had removed her 
eggs; and he found her, before he left the field, sit- 
ting under the hedge upon twenty-one eggs... . 
The round of ploughing had occupied about twenty 
minutes, in which time she, probably aided by the 
cock bird, had removed the twenty-one eggs to a 
distance of about forty yards.” 
The RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGES, their allies the 
FRANCOLINS, and the GREY PARTRIDGES areall ground- 
birds; the TREE-PARTRIDGES, as the name implies, are 
not, or at least less completely so — hence their 
mention here. They are natives of the Indo-Chinese 
countries, and the islands of Java, Borneo, and Formosa. 
The QUAIL isa little-known British bird, very like 
a small partridge inappearance. Enormous numbers, 
Professor Newton tells us, “are netted on the Conti- 
nent, especially in the spring migration. The captives 
are exposed in the poulterers’ shops, confined in long, 
cloth-covered cages, with a feeding-trough in front.” 
The bulk ‘‘ of these are males, which are the first to 
arrive, and advantage is taken of this circumstance by 
the bird-catchers, who decoy hundreds into their nets 
by imitating the call-note of the female. It has been 
stated that in the small island of Capri, in the Bay 
of Naples, 160,000 have been netted in a single 
HIMALAYAN MONAL season, and even larger numbers are on record.” An 
The female of the monal is quite soberly clad idea of the vast numbers which travel together in 
In some parts of India this bird has been exterminated, owing to the 
demands of the plume-market 
