284 PARTRIDGE. 



and when sportsmen affirm their having killed numbers of the male 

 birds only, this could only have arisen from external appearance : 

 Colonel Montagu affirms, that having killed nine old ones at the 

 end of September, supposed to be males, he opened them, when 

 four proved to be females. Old sportsmen can tell the difference 

 between old and young birds, when others may be deceived ; but if 

 a young one be held by the under mandible, and the whole weight 

 of the bird be supported thereby, it is an old subject; if on the con- 

 trary, the under jaw bends with the weight, it is a bird of the same 

 season, however complete in plumage. 



This bird is found throughout Europe, in the temperate parts, 

 but not every where common ; the extremes of heat and cold being 

 equally unfavourable, as they are less plentiful in such places ; 

 frequent in the temperate parts of Russia and Siberia, but unknown 

 in Lapland and Norway;* more rare in Italy than with us, or in 

 France, and probably not met with so far south as Greece.f OlinaJ 

 thinks that flocks of the Red Partridge, rather than of these, are 

 the sort said to have been kept tame in some of the Islands of the 

 Mediterranean. 



The Partridge lays from twelve to twenty eggs, sometimes more ;|| 

 of a greenish grey colour, on the ground, scraping a few dry leaves 

 for a bed, in some hollow ; the female sits three weeks, and the 

 young run as soon as hatched, and often with a portion of the shell 

 sticking to their heads ; but are not capable of flying in less than 

 three weeks ; for the most part breed but once in the season, in July; 

 but the late Mr. Boys asssured me, that he has seen two broods in a 

 year, though it is by no means a common circumstance. In general 

 frequent rich pastures and corn fields, and feed on green corn and 

 other plants, as well as insects, also grain of all kinds ; and it may 

 be observed, to keep pace with the spreading of corn over many 



* Brunnich. f Gesner. Av. 680. % Uccel. p. 57. 



y As far as twenty-five. — Hist, des Ois. 



