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Partridges

Partridges, like other game, should be hung as long as it is safe to keep them. They should be chosen young, as an old bird is comparatively worthless. They are in season from the 1st of September to the beginning of February. Partridges when young covey together, and thus the sportsman often shoots several at once. When the winter comes on they retire to the upland meadows, and hide themselves among the grass. They are simple and timorous birds, and are easily taken. The eggs of partridges are frequently hatched under the domestic hen, and the young fed on ants' eggs, curds, and grits, with a little green food, when old enough they are fed with grain. They are easily tamed, though it is said they never wholly forget their wild origin. The female partridge is smaller than her mate, and less pleasing in colour; her back is darker, and her belly without the brown patch in its centre. The male is twelve inches long and twenty broad, and the wing measures six and the tail three inches. The common partridge is almost exclusively a European bird. In Europe it is extensively distributed in all suitable localities, and inhabits all the level parts of England and Scotland.