THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE 125 



him from Paris in 1835 ; but these were kept in an 

 aviary, and none escaped. So far as I remember, 

 also, they did not breed." 



It may have been from the Cheddar stock, 

 above referred to, that representatives of the 

 species found their way into the neighbouring 

 county of Gloucester, although it is probable that 

 Wiltshire also furnished originally some proportion 

 of the birds now to be met with there. In the 

 district lying between Cirencester and Cheltenham, 

 "red-legs" are regarded as scarce, and not on the 

 increase, the coveys being small and few in 

 number ; while on the Worcestershire side of the 

 Cotswolds, in the Vale of Gloucester, it is said 

 there are none to be found. 



The further we proceed westward the scarcer 

 do we find the Red-legged Partridge. In Here- 

 fordshire, for example, I am not aware that it has 

 been met with more than once. Mr Ernest 

 Armitage, writing from Dadnor, Ross, on October 

 7, 1 88 1, says : — 



"A friend of mine shot a Red-legged Partridge 

 in this neighbourhood last week, and I am anxious 

 to know whether this bird has been known to visit 

 Herefordshire before. I have lived here all my 

 life, and no one whom I have asked can remember 

 ever having heard of one being killed here before, 

 and I am sure no one has reared any. It was a 

 single bird, and was shot in a meadow near Ross." 



Still further westward, however, has the "red- 

 leg" wandered, namely, into Brecon, which is the 

 last county on my list. 



