PARTRID GE . — Pcrdrix Cmereus. 
The Common Partridge is found spread over the greater part of Europe,, 
always being found most plentifully near cultivated ground. In all probability 
this bird, although it may do some damage to the corn-fields, may still be very 
useful to the farmer by its unceasing war upon the smaller “ vermin” that 
devastate the fields and injure the crops. Small slugs are a favourite diet with 
the Partridge, which has a special faculty for discovering them in the recesses 
where they hide themselves during the day, and can even hunt successfully after the 
eggs of these destructive creatures. Caterpillars are also eaten by this bird, and 
the terrible black grub of the turnip is consumed in great numbers by the 
Partridges. Even the white cabbage butterfly, whose numerous offspring are so 
hurtful to the kitchen garden, falls a victim to the quick-eyed Partridge, which 
leaps into the air and seizes it in its beak as the white-winged pest comes 
fluttering unsuspectingly over the bird’s head. 
The Partridge begins to lay about the end of April, gathering together a bundle 
of dried grasses, into some shallow depression in the ground, and depositing 
therein a clutch of eggs, generally from twelve to twenty in number. Sometimes a 
still greater number have been found, but, in these cases, it is tolerably 
evident, from many observations, that several birds have laid in the same 
nest. 
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