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PARTRIDGE-NETTING. 
partridge-netting was, perhaps, as much in vogue in 
Shakespeare’s day as now. 
In Much Ado about Nothing , allusion is again made to 
the partridge by Beatrice, who, referring to the ill-humour 
of Benedick, says,— 
“He ’ll but break a comparison or two on me ; which, 
peradventure, not marked or not laughed at, strikes him 
into melancholy; and then there’s a partridge wing saved, 
for the fool will eat no supper that night .”—Much Ado 
about Nothing, Act ii. Sc. i. 
As we speak of a “ covey ” of partridges, so we say a 
“ bevy ” of quails :— 
“And many more of the same bevy.” 
Hamlet , Act v. Sc. 2. 
It was formerly the practice to keep Quails, and make 
them fight like game-cocks. Solon directed that quails 
should be made to fight in the presence of the Athenian 
youths, in order to inflame their courage, and the Romans 
held quail-fighting in still higher estimation. Augustus 
punished a prefect of Egypt with death for buying and 
bringing to table a quail which had acquired celebrity by 
its victories.* 
Shakespeare was doubtless alluding to this sport when 
he wrote:— 
% Vide Julius Pollux, “ De ludis,” lib. ix. 
