108 
PARTRIDGES. 
Near Fort Ckurcliill, on the shores of Hudsons Bay, 
in the Winter season, they may be seen by thousands, 
feeding on the willow-tops peeping above the surface 
of the snow. The crew of a vessel wintering there, 
killed one thousand eight hundred dozen in the 
course of the season. They are provided with a 
plumage well calculated for the severe weather to 
which they are exposed, each feather being in a 
manner doubled, so as to give additional warmth. 
Our British Partridges huddle together in the stubbles, 
but these birds shelter and roost by burrowing under 
the snow ; in the snow, too, they practise a common 
mode of escaping observation and pursuit, as they 
will dive under it as a duck does in water, and rise 
at a considerable distance. The Indians, as well as 
European settlers, catch them in great abundance, 
in traps, and live upon them throughout their long 
winter. 
From the earliest ages, partridges seem, indeed, to 
have been a favourite food, and the pursuit of them 
as favourite an amusement. In the Scriptures, “ to 
hunt the Partridge on the mountains,” is alluded to, 
as a well-known sport, and to this day, though not 
exactly with the same weapon, it is practised by the 
Arabs of Mount Lebanon. They make a slight 
square-frame of wood, of about five feet in height, 
over which they stretch an ox-hide perforated in 
three or four places. The ox-hide is moved quietly, 
in an upright position, along the ground, and the 
Arab, concealing himself behind it, is hidden from 
the view of the game, which unsuspectingly allow 
the sportsman to come within shot of them. The 
Arab, seeing through one of the apertures, quietly 
