73 
THE COMMON PARTRIDGE. 
Ferdirdnerea. — iioiujvAJflJiJB, Rav. 
PLATE r. 
Ftitiii cinerea, Mmtagug^ Latham^ Bewick, Setby^ &c. 
A detailed description of this faoiitfarly known 
bird ia unnecessary. It is distributed extensively 
over Europe, and, according to Temminck, extenda 
to Barbary and EpyjJt, where it, is migratory- It 
iK dm oat everywhere abundant in our own inland, 
tJie more northern rauiry districts excepted. It fol- 
lows the steps of man as he reclainis the wn<?tes, 
and dfi!ltghts in the cultivation which brings to it as 
to the labourers a plentiful harvest of grain. TItey 
are pprliaps most abundant in the lower richty culti- 
vated plains gf England, but even the south of Scot- 
land .supplies many of the more northern tnarketa 
with this game. 
Very early in springf — the firat mild daya even of 
February — the partridges have paired, aod pacH 
couple may be found near the pait selected for their 
summer abode, long before the actual preparations 
for ineuhation has commenced. These ore begun at 
a later la-riod than generally imagined, and even in 
the beginning of September, particularly in the wilder 
YOU IV, F 
