" Frenchmen "
The English partridge is a wild English bird, not exclusively British like the grouse, but altogether at home with us when unprotected and in wild condition& The experts can just tell the difference between the English bird and the Hungarian, but the chief is a slight deepening of tint ; and the birds themselves, when it comes to mating, show no prejudice or even preference. That is one of the things that has been of late proved conclusively ; and the admixture strengthens the race. The French partridge (which in some respects looks more like a Francolin) is, of course, of a different race ; and is, so to say, less native. It is coming back into favour after a long period of unpopularity ; and we begin to find out where it is hardier and where less hardy than the English. It seems to be a proved superstition that it is more pug- nacious than the English bird, though now and again an old cock will prove offensive. The partridges on the research farm have flourished greatly and it is probably a fairly good year in the south, though one cold spell did a good deal of damage in the west, for example, on the black peaty lands of the Lancashire seaboard.
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