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exhaustive article on this species (B. of Norfolk, i. p. 405), writes as follows : — " Its introduction 

 into the eastern counties dates only from the close of the last century, when, about the year 

 1770, the Marquis of Hertford and Lord Eendlesham are recorded to have had large quantities 

 of eggs imported from the continent, and the young birds, hatched under domestic fowls, were 

 turned off at Sudbourn and Eendlesham, in Suffolk, on the respective estates of the above noble- 

 men. From thence they soon spread to other portions of the county, and the adjoining parts of 

 Norfolk ; and in Daniel's ' Rural Sports ' we find the author speaking of a covey of fourteen 

 discovered by himself in 1777 within two miles of Colchester, which in a very thick piece of 

 turnips, ' baffled for half an hour the exertions of a brace of good pointers to make them take 

 wing ; and the first which did so immediately perched on the hedge, and was shot in that situation 

 without it being known what bird it was.' Others are also described by the same writer as 

 having been killed in 1799, at Sudbourn, where they were originally turned off. During the 

 next twenty years, they would seem to have increased rapidly, as in 1826 they are thus referred 

 to by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear : — ' These birds are now very plentiful in some parts of 

 Suffolk. We have seen at least one hundred and fifty brace in a morning upon Dunningworth 

 heath ; and they are found in greater or less numbers from Aldborough to Woodbridge ; a few 

 are also sometimes seen in Norfolk.' It appears, however, that other game-preservers, in both 

 Norfolk and Suffolk, following the example of the Marquis of Hertford, procured eggs from the 

 Continent, and were equally successful in extending the breed. Mr. Alfred Newton has furnished 

 me with the following additional particulars, as communicated to him by his late father: — 'The 

 year after Lord Cornwallis died (1823) Lords Alvanley and De Eos hired Culford; they had a 

 large number of Eed-legged Partridges' eggs sent over from France, which they distributed about 

 the neighbourhood, keeping, however, some at Culford. The Duke of Norfolk had a good many 

 at Fornham ; so also had Mr. Waddington at Cavenham. The eggs were set under hens ; and 

 nearly all of them hatched. This was the first introduction of the Eed-legged Partridge into 

 West Suffolk. They had been plentiful in the eastern division of the county several years before, 

 where Lord Hertford had introduced them.' Mr. Newton refused to have any eggs ; but in a few 

 years the birds spread to Elveden, and thence, of course, very rapidly into the adjacent parts of 

 Norfolk." 



It does not inhabit Scotland; and an attempt referred to by Messrs. Baikie and Heddle 

 (Nat. Hist, of Ork. p. 56) to introduce it into Orkney appears to have failed, as nothing further 

 has been heard of it there. Mr. Eobert Gray (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 243) states that Mr. James 

 Mearns shot a specimen within two miles of Aberdeen, in January 1867, which appears only to 

 have been a chance visitor from the south. According to Thompson (B. of Irel. ii. p. 65), it was 

 " introduced into the county of Galway, in Ireland, about thirty years ago, but does not seem to 

 have thriven there." He refers to two specimens having been sent from Galway to Dublin to be 

 stuffed previous to 1844; and one was, he says, shot near Clonmel on the 4th February, 1849. 



It does not occur in Scandinavia, Eussia, or Finland ; and its occurrence in Germany is very 

 doubtful. Naumann states that it is not found there; and Dr. Altum writes (J. f. O. 1863, 

 p. 114) that its occurrence in Munsterland is based on a picture; but Mr. F. Tiemann states 

 (J. f. O. 1865, p. 218) that it has occurred in Silesia. 



I do not find any record of its occurrence in Holland ; and in Belgium it is of very acci- 



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