5980 



Birds. 



mile and more from iheir home. If the sportsman finds them now it 

 is " more by luck than by wit." 



In three different directions I knew, last season, of the existence of 

 large packs, rather than coveys, of partridges, numbering not less than 

 from twenty to twenty-five brace in each case. From circumstances 

 I had only been able to visit their several haunts once or twice before 

 the middle of October. One of these packs I have never been able 

 to find since ; another I never saw again till last Monday (February 1), 

 when the severe weather had driven it down upon the land ; and the 

 third I found accidentally one day, and it led me nearly a mile on to 

 the open moor in pursuit. If, however, snow falls to any extent they 

 forsake the moor, and, however hard pressed by the shooter, manifest 

 very little inclination to resort thither for safety. 



From time to time one hears of very large coveys : during the past 

 season I have heard of and seen more than one such. One, number- 

 ing forty birds, was named to me before the season commenced : a few 

 shots were fired at it on September 7th, which reduced its number 

 to thirty-seven. At this number it stood for some wrecks, when, on 

 one or two occasions, it was somewhat reduced : however, as lately as 

 February 2nd, it still mustered twenty-eight members. I have seen 

 two or three others of from twenty to twenty-five. I believe in the 

 latter cases all were the progeny of one pair of old birds, and included 

 them of course ; in the former, and all similar ones, that two hens laid 

 in the same nest (See Yarrell, ii. 335). That this does take place, 

 from time to time, I am in a position to prove, from a circumstance 

 communicated to me last autumn. A partridge's nest was found in a 

 field, in Fingringhoe, in Essex, containing a great number of eggs; 

 but one moiety consisted of the eggs of the redlegged partridge, the 

 rest of those of the common English bird. 



In general, after the great tameness which characterizes the partridge 

 early in the season is worn off, it is much more easy to approach single 

 birds, or groups of two or three, than larger numbers ; but their habits, 

 in respect of what the sportsman terms their " wildness," are very va- 

 riable and very unaccountable. I have known fourteen out of seven- 

 teen composing a covey killed in detail, the other three being left 

 unmolested ; and I have seen bird after bird get up, when once the 

 gun had been fired or the whirr of one or more of their fellows' wings 

 been heard, without allowing the sportsman another shot. Sometimes 

 I have seen two or three rise very wild once or twice in succession, 

 and the third time, with no better cover or concealment than before, 

 lie till the shooter almost walked upon them. One day the covey will 



