| 
; 
| ERRIES of 
eaten, especially whortleberries and black- 

DEc. 21, 1907.] 

FOREST AND STREAM. 




| GAMIS RAG AND 



Memories of New 
By S. T. 
My Friend the Partridge 
England Shooting 
Hammond 
(Continyed from page 934.) 
several varieties are freely 
berries as well as grapes and thorn apples. 
The seeds of the skunk cabbage form a dainty 
dish, and it is not uncommon to find the partridge’s 
craws filled with them. Grain of any kind is 
rarely eaten by them according to my observation. 
With the exception of an occasional kernel 
of corn, I do not remember to have seen grain 
of any kind in their craws. This may also be 
said of the weed seeds that constitute so large 
a portion of food for the quail. During the win- 
ter, especially if snow covers the ground, almost 
the only food of the partridge is the buds of 
different trees and shrubs. Poplar, soft maple, 
yellow birch and a few other species are freely 
used by the partridge, while apple trees when 
near their resorts appear to be an _ especial 
favorite. Indeed, in the early days farmers 
would tell you that the partridge greatly injured 
the apple crop by eating the buds, and we some- 
times hear the same complaint now, although 
it was long ago proven to be wrong. 
More than fifty years ago Prof. Agassiz re- 
quested me to send him the craws of a number 
of partridge that had been eating the buds from 
apple trees in order that the truth might be 
known. When winter came I sent him six craws 
that were fairly well filled, but heard nothing 
from him in relation to the matter until the fol- 
lowing spring, when he added a postscript to a 
letter relating to fish, that the 130 buds of the 
apple tree were leaf buds with the exception of 
four, which were four more than he expected 
to find. I also made a number of examinations, 
but failed to find a single fruit bud. 
We have good authority for believing that the 
partridge devours a large quantity of insect food, 
but I have never found positive proof that this 
was true, owing perhaps to the fact that my ex- 
aminations were made when this diet was out 
of season. I can readily believe this to be the 
case, however, when they are rearing their young 
as well as during the summer when there is a 
comparative scarcity of other foods. 
I have no doubt that they eat many other things 
of which I have no knowledge; for I have fre- 
quently found in their craws material that I 
cotild not identify. I know that one partridge 
at least ate nearly the whole of a mushroom 
that was three inches in diameter, for I saw 
her do it. I was gathering the succulent dainties 
for my own eating, when I saw some twenty 
feet away a land tortoise eagerly devouring a 
particularly fine one. I sat down on a convenient 
boulder to watch the amusing performance, for 
After it bit off more 
would draw back and 
the reptile was. greedy. 
than it could chew it 
elevate his head, shut his jaws together, and 
with an ecstatic roll of his eyes swallow a por- 
tion of it while the remainder rolled from each 
corner of his mouth and dropped to the ‘ground. 
Then I noted that the gourmand was frugal as 
well as greedy, for with a twist of his head he 
would bring an eye to bear on the fragments 
and then gather them in to the smallest piece, 
when the performance. would be repeated with 
grotesque variations that were very amusing. 
I had watched ‘him for some time, when I 
saw, a few yards beyond him, a partridge walk- 
ing with a stately grace that no other bird can 
equal, as she went straight to a large fresh-look- 
ing mushroom. When she came to a halt be- 
fore it, with a graceful turn of her head she 
examined it a moment, and evidently finding it 
all right she took a dainty pick at it, and then 
settled down to business, eating in a ladylike 
manner that was in marked contrast to that of the 
hard-shelled glutton a short distance away. When 
she had finished the mushroom, with the excep- 
tion of a few fragments, she resumed her stately 
walk, and soon disappeared in the dense under- 
growth just beyond. I do not remember whether 
I gathered many mushrooms that day, but I do 
distinctly remember with deep satisfaction the 
great pleasure I enjoyed at this “al fresco” 
lunch of beauty and the beast. 
I have no doubt that the partridge drinks 
water, but I have never caught one in the act, 
although I have upon several occasions watched 
them as they daintily appropriated the rain drops 
that were clustered upon the leaves, and once in 
early morning, as I came to the edge of some 
woods, I stopped within twenty feet. of some 
newly-plowed ground that extended to the 
woods. I had stood there but a moment when 
I saw a partridge come out of the woods to the 
freshly turned ground, when she halted a short 
time, and after taking a look around turned and 
came directly toward me to the strip of green 
turf next the plowed ground, when she began 
drinking the drops of dew which sparkled upon 
every blade of grass. 
When she had apparently taken enough she 
began plucking and swallowing the grass until 
she caught sight of me, when with raised top 
knot, extended ruff and slightly expanded tail 
with majestic stride she slowly walked into the 
woods. This living picture often comes back to 
me, and I bless the kindly fortune that brought 
to me so great a pleasure. 
I have survived several seasons when par- 

periods 
but few 
than two 
decades may pass before another period of scarcity. 
One when partridges were few and 
far between, I was working out a favorite cover 
near the home of a farmer friend, and had just 
shot a bird that proved to be the smallest one 
I ever saw, for it weighed only eleven ounces. 
At the report of the gun my friend joined me, 
and as the dog brought in the bird he took 
it and remarked that partridges were awful 
scarce, and then with a deprecatory glance at 
the diminutive specimen he rolled his eyes up 
added, ‘‘and small.” 
These 
tridges 
come 
years 
were decidedly 
very irregularly. 
will -elapse, 
scarce. 
Occasionally 
perhaps 
or more 
season 
That a large portion of the birds we mourn 
are dead I cannot believe, for it has very often 
been the case that the next season after a scar- 
city there has been one of plentiful supply in 
nearly all our coverts; many more, in fact, than 
could have possibly been bred by the apparent 
supply at the close of the previous season. I 
do not understand this, and therefore should 
not undertake to explain it. Ticks undoubtedly 
destroy a number of birds, but I do not believe 
that the inroads of this pest amount to five per 
cent. of the supply. The parent of the tick, the 
partridge fly, seldom deposits more than a very 
few eggs upon one bird, and all of the old birds 
and many of the young ones have strength to 
withstand the drain upon them, but occasion- 
ally a poor bird gets an extra number, and soon 
it falls a victim to this bloodthirsty parasite. 
I was once strawberrying with my wife, when 
we found a brood of partridges about the size 
of quail. They took to flight as we came near 
them. One that appeared to be smaller than the 
others, flew only a few yards and settled in some 
low brush, where I soon found him apparently 
nearly exhausted. I had no trouble in taking 
him in my hand. As I was carrying him to 
show to my companion, I saw upon his neck 
three large ticks, and as I examined him closely 
I found a large number of small ones. After 
looking him over I began pulling out the ticks, 
when the little fellow with evident satisfaction 
closed his eyes and stretched his neck toward 
me, apparently well pleased with the attention. 
When I had rid him of more than twenty of 
the pests, and my companion had petted him 
awhile, she lowered him toward the ground, but 
he appeared to be unwilling to leave her, and 
as she gently placed him on the ground he came 
toward her, and she extended her hand 
he rubbed his head against it with evident pleas- 
ure. We were both delighted with this new 
and very pleasing experience of sylvan life, and 
often by the quiet fireside is the story repeated. 
We have read much about the domestication 
of the partridge, and of an occasional instance 
where the result has in a measure been fairly 
successful. As a rule, the taming of the par- 
tridge is a very uncertain problem, although since 
the experience in the strawberry patch it has 
seemed to me that given a young bird with its 
neck swarming with ticks, the task could be 
easily accomplished. 
when 

