The Red-Legged Partridge. ^' 



occurs in the Balearic Islands, and on the mainland in Italy. As a game bird it 

 is not appreciated as highly as the Grey Partridge, running off from one end of 

 the field as the shooters enter the other, nor do its merits on the table make 

 amends, for few persons regard it as equivalent in flavour to its congener. It, 

 however, affords better sport when pursued, according to the modern fashion of 

 driving. 



The nest of the Red-legged Partridge is made on the ground, usually under 

 the shelter of some herbage, as the tall grass of a hedge- row, or in growing crops, 

 it is simply a slight hollow, with a few withered leaves or dead grass. The eggs, 

 Avhich are said to be laid at rather distant intervals, vary from ten to eighteen in 

 number, they are stone colour, spotted or blotched with darker brown. The first 

 are usually laid in April or May, but owing to the long duration of the laying, 

 the Red-legged birds are often later in the season than those of the Grey birds. 



As game. Red-legged Partridges, except where the system of driving the 

 birds towards the guns is pursued, are not highly esteemed by sportsmen. They 

 are of much stronger flight than the common Partridge, and are usually so shy 

 that it is difficult to get within shot of them. They run before the dogs, rarely, 

 if they can possibly avoid it, taking wing, and unless the sportsman can drive 

 them into some very thick covert through which they cannot make their way, he 

 has a very slight chance of getting within shot of them. Hence they have in 

 many cases been destroyed as vermin, and the keepers have trodden the eggs in 

 the nest under-foot, in order to prevent their increase, to the detriment of the 

 older birds. When wounded they will run to ground in any hole that they can 

 find, such as a rabbit burrow, and when they do take wing, not unfrequently seek 

 shelter in trees. The flesh of the Red-legged Partridge is much whiter and drier 

 than that of our native bird, and is not in much request except on the Continent, 

 where, however, it is highly esteemed. It is said to have bred in confinement, in 

 this respect differing greatly from the Grey Partridge, which rarely breeds except 

 when perfectly wild, it being an exceedingly uncommon occurrence to get a nest 

 from a pair even turned into a large enclosure such as a walled garden. 



In the earlier editions of " Yarrell," the Barbary Partridge, Caccabis petrosa, was 

 figured and described, inasmuch as some few specimens have been shot in various 

 parts of the British Islands, but it is now generally regarded by naturalists as a 

 bird that had been artificially introduced, and as it failed to obtain a footing in 

 this country, it is now rightly eliminated from the more recently published 

 accounts of British Birds. 



