
shooting rights for a farm often bring from 20,000 to 60,000 pesetas 
($466-$1,395) a season, depending on the abundance of birds. In such 
situations it is no idle jest to say that the partridge crop may pay 
the taxes on a farm. 
One other source of income should be mentioned. The frequent 
drives or ojeos are often well-organized affairs requiring the services 
of from 20 to 70 or more beaters, one or two secretarios per gun, and 
many other helpers. A good beater gets 30 to 50 pesetas a day; secre- 
tarios are paid from 50 to 100 pesetas depending on their ability to 
load guns, to gather birds, and to filch a few of those shot by ; 
neighboring sportsmen on each drive. Thus the wages paid on the several 
thousand ojeos organized each year amount to a substantial figure. 
As pets and as callers for hunting -- While it is not uncommon 
to find adult partridges in cages, they do not tame as readily as do 
the chukars. Relatively few, therefore, are kept as pets or to provide 
life and decoration in the garden. 
In former days many a hunter with a taste for partridges 
possessed two or three tame birds to be used in calling their wild 
brethern within range of his gun. This is now illegal, but the law 
may still be more honored in the breach than by observance, for to 
find several birds, each in its beehive, wicker cage, tenderly cared 
for by one village nimrod is not uncommon. The normal life span for 
these captive birds is 5 or 6 years though records of 10 to 12 years 
are said to exist. 
As fighting birds -- The redlegs are by no means as pugna- 
cious as chukars. Thus mains are much more accidental and occasional 
affairs than is the case with chukars in the Middle East where hundreds 
of liras, dinars, or rials change hands with the death of a fighting 
bird. Only the male redleg is used for this purpose. 
As a game bird -- In the Iberian Peninsula no other game is as 
much sought-after by city and country folk alike as is the red-legged 
partridge. The same is true in southern France but in northern France 
and southern England the redleg is less sought-after than is the 
Hungarian partridge and the pheasant because of its habit of learning 
quickly to run rather than to fly before the hunter in the field. 
In Spain hunting pressure on lands open to hunting is 
substantial. The species might long ago have been much reduced in 
numbers except for its great recuperative capacity and the protection 
afforded it on farms, estates, and forest reserves where hunting is 
controlled. 
28 
