THE COMMON PARTRIDGE. 
63 
different times from November to April inclusive, of which I 
noticed the contents, exhibited blades of grass of a rich soft kind 
as the chief food ; the seventh (killed in mild weather) contained 
mosses only, of which there was a considerable quantity. In ad- 
dition to grass in the others, were the fresh green-tops of different 
plants ; in one, the tender leaves of a thistle ; in two of them 
were a few minute seeds, and grains of oats. Fragments of 
stone were in all the gizzards. A sportsman informs me that he 
has often found clocks'’^ (coleopterous insects) in those killed in 
the mountains : — the partridge not uncommonly frequents mountain 
and lowland heaths contiguous to cultivated ground. It has been 
well observed by Mr. Poole, that When snow lies on the 
ground their scratchings may be frequently seen ; and it is then 
curious to trace their footsteps, and observe the marks of their 
quills where they have taken flight.^^ 
Mr. St. John, writing of the partridge, remarks, that he is con- 
fident Most if not all granivorous birds amply repay the farmer 
for their food by the quantity of weeds they destroy during a 
great part of the year."’^'^ Another author observes : — In allud- 
ing to the game which may be reared profitably upon a farm, 
partridges cannot be omitted. I do not believe they ever pull 
a single ear of corn from the stalk ; it is only after the stubbles 
are cleared of the crop that they ever feed upon grain at all. In 
summer, insects and seeds of grasses, and in winter the leaves 
of weeds and coarse grasses from below the hedges, constitute 
their food ; in the latter season they become, upon such nutri- 
ment, exceedingly fat. During the continuance of a severe frost, 
and when the ground has been covered to a considerable depth 
by snow, I have repeatedly examined the crops, both of partridges 
and pheasants, and found them filled with the leaves of grasses 
which grow by the edges of springs and water-rills that have not 
been frozen ; and the birds, on such occasions, were in fact fatter 
than at any other season of the year."’M 
* Tour in Sutherland, vol. ii, p. 218. 
t “Observations on Game and Game Laws,” by J. Burn Murdoch, p. 21. 
