186 THE BIRDS OF SUSSEX. 



COMMON PARTEIDGE. 



Perdiw cinerea. 



The Partridge is very common^ and is too generally known to 

 require much notice. It is indigenous, and pairs for the 

 season ia February. The nest is formed of grass, placed ia 

 any depression of the ground, in rough hedgerows, or open 

 fields of com or long grass. It sits very close, and when the 

 young are hatched the hen is very anxious for their safety, 

 fluttering about as if wounded, but always in so artful a 

 manner as to be able to escape as soon as the pursuer has 

 been enticed away from her brood, and they have had time to 

 disperse in all directions. There may occasionally be found 

 a whole covey in which the horse-shoe mark on the breast is 

 white, instead of chestnut ; and I once met .with a covey of 

 eight, every bird of which was of a light fawn colour, with 

 very slight rudiments of the horse- shoe mark, and shot a brace 

 of them, which I still have. 



Should there be a strong breeze from the north, the sports- 

 man on the coast refrains from shooting, the Partridges being 

 liable to fly out to sea, where, in several instances, a whole 

 covey has been picked up by the flshermen. 



I quote the following : — " While walking on the Marine 

 Parade at Brighton on Friday last, about two o'clock, I was 

 surprised to see a small covey of Partridges dash across the 

 esplanade, coming apparently from the direction of the sea, 

 and seemingly quite bewildered, and take refuge in the areas 

 of the houses on the Parade. Some workmen close by lost no 

 time in securing them alive. It appears to me that the birds 

 must have made an amazingly long flight to have come into 

 such a central part of the town. I never saw such a thing 

 before." (' Field,' Oct. 32, 1880.) 



