Partridge Preferences That too popular word, ecology, as used by
naturalists, has been oddly illustrated by some sportsmen's experiences. The French partridge which is a rarity in a good many districts has exhibited this year more remarkably than ever its strong preference for market-garden land. It seems to enjoy cabbages which are distinctly objectionable to the English bird. An old theory was that the French was the more pugnacious bird and drove out the English, as the grey- squirrel drives out the brown, but the best observerskisold that pugnacity is much more observable in the Briton. In general the way of the partridge this season has been rather baffling. In a few districts for no known reason it has almost vanished. In one considerable shoot not a single young bird was shot. On the other hand the coveys flourished near by, and indeed flourished beyond the normal in the Down country of Berkshire. This seems to be good evidence that the English bird is—may one say ?—xerophytic and much less enduring of a douche from a cabbage leaf than the French, which has prevailed in some of the clay lands as well as the sandy market-garden lands.
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