The Common Red-legged Partridge 127 
East Anglia it is so well established that it has resisted efforts to exterminate it. In 
the Midlands it is found in some places and is there a fast-increasing species. In 
Ireland and the Orkneys introduction has not met with success, nor have several attempts 
to establish it in the mainland of Scotland proved successful. Captain Brander Dunbar 
has recently turned down a few near Elgin, a county full of sandy hills and rich 
agriculture, and there, I feel sure, they will flourish if the experiment is repeated until 
the birds breed. East Lothian is another county in Scotland where the Red-legged 
Partridge would do well. They seem to dislike a wet country and a superabundance 
of grass-fields, and so will not attach themselves to the west of England and Ireland. 
In Wales a few are met with in all the counties except Carnarvon. In all cases they 
are results of recent introduction. There are some Red-legs in the Channel Islands, 
where they have been imported. 
Habits. — The Red-legged Partridge is of a nervous, restlesss disposition. Although 
frequenting certain wide areas or even a few fields, it is ever on the watch and ready 
to run on the slightest appearance of danger, real or imaginary. Unless suddenly 
disturbed or hard pressed, it prefers to run, and, unlike the English Partridge, to 
scatter, the covey reuniting later in the day. This restlessness and running habit of 
the species rendered it unpopular with our fathers in the days when Partridges were 
shot exclusively over dogs, because many a good dog was spoilt or rendered unsteady 
by constantly pointing or following running birds which might be far away. Fortu- 
nately, however, destruction by constant shooting and breaking the eggs only affected the 
species locally, for nowadays the Red-leg is looked on with favour, owing to its use as 
a " driven " bird, its habit of coming on to the guns singly affording a pleasing variety. 
No one can treat the Common English Partridge as wanting in natural intelligence, for 
constant driving, carried on year after year, causes them to find out all the weak spots in 
a line of hedges and to swing off to corners where there are no engines of destruction 
waiting to greet them ; but the Red-legs use their brains from the moment they espy 
the drivers, and when forced to rise, scatter in every direction, each bird taking a line 
of its own and trying all points of egress. When these afford no avenue of escape, 
they will pitch near the hedgerow and run to hide in dense cover or break back at 
the last moment. The flight is low, rapid, and, if the bird sees no opposition, straight 
to the point it has selected for alighting. It is not of long duration, and if the birds 
are put on the wing more than once, especially in wet weather or when the ploughed 
lands are wet, they soon tire and try to escape by running. On the clay heavy soils 
I have often seen old birds captured by a dog owing to their inability to fly any 
further. Clay will clog on their legs, especially round the spurs of the males. It is 
curious also to note that the tail and under parts become soaked with moisture sooner 
than is the case with other game birds. 
The Red-leg is very partial to open sandy fields, and likes to dust in open spaces 
at midday, as all game birds do. It also prefers ground where there are old and dry 
hedgerows if there are no gorse commons, because when the fields are denuded of grain 
and roots it must have some place of retreat. In West Sussex Red-legs live most of 
their time in or about the edge of the deep "gills," except at feeding-hours. Occasion- 
ally, especially in the spring, one may see one perched on an old tree, barn, or wall — 
