PARTRIDGE. 
COMMON PARTRIDGE. 
Perdiz cinerea, LATHAM. JENYNS. 
Tetrao perdiz, LINNZAUS. 
‘Perdix—A Partridge. Cinerea—Ash-coloured. 
AN acquired taste is a proverbial expression, and, as such, 
redolent of truth. There is too, if I may so say, such a thing 
as an acquired scent, and that of a turnip field, as a rendezvous 
of the Partridge, is a good instance of it. It is not, ‘a priori,’ 
particularly agreeable, and yet I think that I shall not be 
adjudged to be far wrong by some, at all events, of my readers, 
in pronouncing it to be one of a most exhilarating and pleasant 
nature in the month of October. . 
Partridges are found in most temperate climes, and are 
probably nowhere more numerous than in England. They 
belong to Europe, and also it is said to Asia and Africa: in 
the former they occur from the south of Siberia, through 
Russia, tc the shores of the Mediterranean; in Norway they 
are rare, and only occur in the extreme south, which is 
somewhat remarkable. In Africa, in Barbary and Egypt. 
They are plentiful throughout England, Scotland, Irelane, 
and Wales, and are sometimes found in very wild situations, 
where they would not naturally be iooked for. 
The Rev. G. Low mentions in the ‘Fauna Orcadensis,’ that 
in his time Partridges were introduced inte Waas, one of the 
Orkney Islands, but unsuccessfully. More lately the experi- 
ment has been again tried by the Earl of Orkney, who 
introduced them into Ronsay, in 1840. Since then Mr. 
Balfour, of Trenaby, has made a similar trial in Shapinsay; 
and im beth these islands the result has beer successful. 
