NOTES AND QUERIES. 19 



in front of us. Being by ourselves we tried to follow them, but they were 

 so shy that we could not get a single shot, and they were soon out of sight and 

 never seen again. I know of others who were fortunate enough to procure 

 one or two of such birds, but T have never examined a specimen myself. 

 The "Zughiihner" apparently belong to a different race, and must not be 

 confounded with the well-known large grey Russian bird which is brought 

 to the London market in enormous quantities. Naumann, the great German 

 ornithologist, wrote : — " Partridges are stationary birds, straying about 

 under certain circumstances only. The majority never leave the neigh- 

 bourhood of the place where they are hatched, though exceptionally, if 

 much disturbed and short of food, they will stray away for a time, but to a 

 short distance only, returning as soon as circumstances are more favourable. 

 In North Germany, however, by the end of October or in November, foreign 

 Partridges appear, coming apparently from northern countries, and driven 

 from their home by severe weather, cold, and want of food, to seek this and 

 shelter in our comparatively milder climate. Sometimes they do not forsake 

 our fields before the early spring. These Partridges, called "Zughiihner" 

 by German sportsmen, seem to be smaller than ours, perhaps because they 

 are natives of a more barren country. They do not differ, however, in 

 colour and markings, except in the slightly darker colour of the feet, and 

 there is no difference in their note and habits, except that they keep 

 together in immense packs and that they are exceptionally shy. They often 

 appear in parts of the country where there were no Partridges before, and 

 in flocks of from fifty to a hundred. One of my brothers once saw a pack 

 of perhaps five hundred wandering along very hurriedly, half on the wing, 

 half running, in a direction from east to west, and covering a narrow track 

 for a distance of perhaps three hundred yards. They were constantly moving 

 onward, all hi the same direction, those in the rear flying over those in 

 front, and so quickly that all disappeared out of sight within a few minutes." 

 Naumann then details his reasons for not considering these Partridges to 

 be of a distinct species. A comparison, nevertheless, of a number of 

 specimens of these migratory birds would be very desirable at the present 

 day, when the study of local forms is far more advanced than it was sixty 

 years ago, when Naumann wrote the sixth volume of his immortal work. — 

 Ernst Hartkrt (Zoological Museum, Tring). 



[Some pertinent remarks on this subject have lately been published by 

 Mr. H. A. Macpherson in a volume on the Partridge issued by Messrs. 

 Longman in their so-called " Fur and Feather " series. Of this volume we 

 hope shortly to give a notice. — Ed.] 



Lapland Bunting at Flamborough. — Mr. Matthew Bailey having 

 sent word that he had several times seen a flock of from sixty to eighty 

 Lapland Buntings near Flamborough village in the second and third 



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