147 



Partridges. 



youngsters, they have not their hardihood, or, rather, do 

 not lend themselves so easily to an artificial life, and are 

 consequently less easily reared. Gapes, roup, catarrh, 

 and cramp are the maladies most affecting them. The 

 means of prevention, and the steps necessary to be taken 

 to effect a cure, are the same as with pheasants, as is, 

 indeed, every portion of the process of hand-rearing not 

 entered into here. The business is so similar that it would 

 be superfluous to give a separate explanation for each. 



As soon as the young partridges are half -grown, which 

 is determined by a full development of the feathers and a 

 general sturdiness of body, the coops must be removed 

 with their broods of hens and chicks to the edge of a corn- 

 field, and placed in a dry spot just within the wheat or 

 oats is to be preferred and the young birds be given 

 their liberty, the hens alone being confined. For a few 

 days the partridges will remain about the coop, and 

 perhaps nestle beneath their foster-mother's sheltering 

 feathers, but probably before a week is out they will have 

 thrown off all trammels of domestication and dependence, 

 and struck out a course of life on their own account, when 

 they may be left to take their chance. Young partridges 

 should only be turned out in fields which are reasonably 

 secure from vermin. There is no doubt that, looking at 

 matters from this point of view, oat-fields are the most 

 suitable rearing-grounds for the young birds, as they offer 

 far more cover and security from winged vermin and 

 more opposition to the progress of ground vermin than 

 wheat-fields. The same may be said of barley, but I 

 prefer wheat or oats. Another consideration is not to put 

 the broods down sufficiently near to run into one 

 another, otherwise they will pack to some extent, and very 

 large coveys will be the undesirable result. One brood to 

 every two acres is a sufficiently thick stock. 



L 2 



