46 
THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. 
the operations of the Game Laws testify. It does not come 
within the scope and object of these papers to defend or 
condemn those laws ; but fruitful sources as they have 
been and are of crime and bloodshed, we cannot help ex- 
pressing our earnest desire for their alteration, so as to render 
them more in accordance with the humane and enlightened 
spirit of the times, or, if this be impossible, their entire 
abolition. 
The Red-legged or GuernseyPartridge — (Perdix Bufas) 
—a larger and more beautiful bird than the common grey 
species, but not nearly so good for the table, the flesh being 
comparatively coarse and dry. According to Daniel, it was 
first introduced into this country in the reign of Charles II., 
when several pairs were turned out about Windsor to 
obtain a stock, but these are supposed to have perished. 
Since then, others have at various times been brought over 
from the Continent, or from the Channel Islands, where they 
always existed in considerable numbers, and now in many 
parts of the country they have become the more plentiful, 
and, as they are in all cases, when brought into contact with 
the Perdix ciiiereus, the dominant species. This appears to 
be a bolder and less shy bird than the other, and one more 
capable of domestication. It has been known, not only to 
lay, but to hatch and rear its brood in an ordinary hutch ; 
so that there seems no reason why it should not be added 
to our common stock of useful poultry. It would be neces- 
sary to have our enclosures netted over, or the birds when 
sufficiently grown would, no doubt, take to the woods and 
covers, as the Grey Partridges invariably do, when hatched, 
as they often are, under the domestic hen. Our sporting 
friends, we know, do not like this foreign species : it drives 
out the other they say, and makes but a bad substitute, on 
account of the inferiority of the flesh. In France, and 
elsewhere on the continent, it is greatly esteemed, and it no 
doubt formed the contents of the dish of which Louis XIY.'s 
harlequin Dominico became enamoured, as well as the 
dinner in prospectu of which the French cure was 
deprived, as jDreviously related. There is reason to 
believe that this species occasionally makes its way 
