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found, it is unfair to suppose that the absence of the latter is now owing to the pugnacity of the 

 Red-legs. In such localities, by pursuing them in wet weather, when the sticky soil prevented 

 their running, I have been pretty successful in making a bag ; and they may be readily killed 

 during a drenching shower if the gun-caps or cartridges will but go off when required. Strong 

 on the wing, and not often affording a close shot, they require very hard hitting, and will 

 frequently carry off the best part of a charge, to die of their wounds after a prolonged flight ■ 

 whilst many a bird, when finally brought to bag, shows evidence of former injuries from long 

 shots, so frequently, though somewhat cruelly, made at them at almost impossible distances. 

 There is one other particular in which the French Partridge differs entirely from our common 

 species — namely, in its habit of occasionally perching in trees, flying up into the thick foliage 

 like a Pheasant or Wood-Pigeon — an action which at first not a little astonished our local 

 sportsmen, many of whom most probably entertained the same opinion as an old veteran 

 Partridge-shot, who assured me that the first time he met with a covey of Ked-legs, and some 

 of them took to the trees, ' he fully believed the birds had gone mad.' On one occasion, whilst 

 shooting on a farm where they were very numerous, I observed this course adopted by single 

 birds in three instances on the same day; and more recently I have known a good-sized covey 

 flushed from the top of an oak timber; and single birds, when chased from place to place in 

 snowy weather, fly up to and settle in the tops of oak pollards. They may also be seen sitting 

 occasionally in a long row on the top of a wall, the ridge of a barn-roof, or on an ordinary park 

 fencing. It is not an unusual custom in this country, when nests of the Grey Partridge have been 

 mown out, or discovered in too exposed situations, to transfer the eggs thus taken to a French 

 Partridge's nest; and in several instances I have known them successfully hatched, and the 

 young birds treated in every respect as her own by the foster-mother. It is said, however, that 

 the running habits of the French birds are generally fatal to the English nestlings, which, to use 

 a thoroughly Norfolk expression, are ' drabbled ' to death in attempting to keep up with such 

 untiring pedestrians. I mention this only as a common belief amongst gamekeepers, being 

 unable to vouch for its accuracy; but I have more than once observed, in the shooting-season, a 

 pair of old French birds rise from the turnips at the head of a covey of English, though, of 

 course, it is quite possible in such cases that the Eed-legs had ' run up ' the Grey Partridges, and 

 thus all had risen together. 



" French Partridges, both on the wing and in the field, are easily recognized at a distance 

 by their larger size and darker tints of plumage, to say nothing of the difference in the noise of 

 their wings in flying. When alarmed they carry their heads erect, turning them in all directions 

 to catch the sound of any approaching danger, and continue this even when running at their 

 greatest speed. If undisturbed, however, and feeding leisurely, their appearance (as seen through 

 a glass) is very different, and, with feathers puffed out and rounded backs, whilst slowly searching 

 the ground for grain and insects, they look almost as large as Pheasants. They are partial to 

 the shelter of thick hedge-rows and plantations, but, unless driven into such cover, are seldom 

 found far from the outer fence, through which they can run on the slightest alarm ; and in 

 walking quietly up a wood-side where these birds are plentiful, it is very usual to see one or 

 more Red-legs issuing from the hedge-bottom, and hurrying along under the bank. They are 



