MORE ABOUT GAME-BIRDS. 119 



perched on the low branch of some tree. He 

 prefers it to be a dead branch, if such be handy ; 

 or perhaps it is upon some high stone that he 

 may be seen, with eyes half-closed, head held well 

 up, and wings half-trailed, calling loudly. At such 

 times he is indeed a bird of note : his plumage 

 being bluffed out, adds greatly to his advantage. 



On the Continent a great number of these birds 

 spend all their lives in cages as call-birds. The 

 bird-shooter for the markets — he cannot possibly 

 be called the sportsman— takes his tame bird in 

 its small covered cage to some place that the 

 partridges frequent, places his decoy-bird on the 

 ground in some fairly open spot, uncovers him, 

 and then conceals himself to await results. The 

 decoy-birds know their work so well that directly 

 they are placed on the ground they begin to call. 

 If partridges are near, the cocks naturally suppose 

 that some rival has dared to come on their par- 

 ticular feeding-ground, so they at once make for 

 the spot whence the call proceeds, and are shot 

 on the ground by the hidden shooter. The calling 

 business is thus a very simple one. 



In this country the partridge is not a favourite 



