76 RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 



distance, some eighty or ninety miles, is not too much for a bird so strong on the wing 

 as the Eed-legged Partridge. 



As a bird for the table it is generally considered much inferior to our native Partridge ; 

 but some consider it to have more flavour. The flesh is white, but rather dry. We 

 have never had an opportunity of tasting this bird, and therefore cannot pronounce our 

 own opinion on its merits in this respect. In France and elsewhere it is greatly esteemed. 



The habits of the Red-legged Partridge differ considerably from those of the common 

 species. In its haunts it is said to be fond of mountainous districts, where there is an 

 abundant supply of wood; and in this country it prefers rough heathy grounds to the 

 corn and grass fields so congenial to the habits of its congener. Unlike our common 

 species, which is essentially a ground bird, the Eed-legged Partridge will frequently perch 

 upon trees. Mr. Daniel, shooting near Colchester in 1777, "found a covey of fourteen; 

 they were in a very thick piece of turnips, and for half an hour baffled the exertions 

 of a brace of good pointers to make them take wing, and the first which did so imme- 

 diately perched on the hedge, and was shot in that situation without its being known 

 what bird it was. A leash more were at length sprung from the turnips, and shot, and 

 two days after a brace more of them was killed by another person." From that time, 

 until November, 1799, he never shot one. He was then out at Sudbourn "with a gentleman, 

 who was particularly anxious to kill some of these Eed Partridges, and hunted with a 

 brace of capital pointers for them only. The instant the dogs stood, the red birds ran, 

 and always took wing, (notwithstanding all the speed exerted to head them,) at such 

 distances as to be out of the range of the shot from any fowling-piece." On the same 

 ground and day Mr. Daniel succeeded in shooting two brace and a half, hunting with 

 springing spaniels. He conjectures that they Avere unaccustomed to the questing of the 

 spaniels, never having before been attacked in that way, and so crouched till obliged 

 to rise. 



When wounded they will run into any hole, such as a rabbit-burrow. These birds 

 also congregate in large packs, instead of remaining, even for a few months, as covies. 

 The following curious particulars we take from Daniel's "Rural Sports:" — "According to 

 Tournefort, they are so tame in the Isle of Scio, that they are driven to seek their food 

 in the fields like so many sheep, and that each family intrusts its Partridges to the 

 common keeper, who brings them back in the evening, and he calls them together with 

 a whistle. Another account states that in the country round Trebizond, a man was seen 

 leading above four thousand Partridges; he marched on the ground, while the Partridges 

 followed him in the air, until he reached a certain camp, three days journey from 

 Trebizond; when he slept, the birds alighted to repose around him, and he could take 

 as many of their number as he pleased." 



In Provence persons have acquired the art of assembling numerous flocks of Partridges, 



