THE VIRGINIAN QUAIL OR PARTRIDGE. 103 
bficome very <lonfestlcatetl, bat al^'ftya tiesert in the 
first spring, when tlie season of incabatioii com- 
mencea. * 
Among the many methcHla taken to capture these 
birds, one related by A udubon seems eminently 8uc- 
cessfuL A cylindrical net is used thirty or forty 
feet in height, and about two in diameter, except at 
the mouth, where it is wider. This is fixed to the 
ground with the mouth open, and two additional 
pieces of net are 6xed at each side, to enlarge as it 
were the entrance- Into this the birds are driven 
by a number of persons on liorseback, who surround 
the covey when discovered. Fifteen or twenty par- 
tridges are thus often caught at one driving, and 
sometimes many hundreds during the dny.f 
The Viipnlan partridge has been attempted to be 
introduced in several parts of the European conti- 
nent, but we are uncertain with what auocess. They 
have al^o been tried in some of the English counties. 
Our next Plate exhibits one of t!ie most beautiful 
of the genus — 
* Wilson's North American Ornithology. t Audubon. 
