The Frenchman
Sportsmen on a shoot in the south-east Midlands were astonished last week to discover that their bag, which was big, consisted very largely of the French partridge. The numbers were out of all proportion to previous experience. Incidentally it was noticed by one observant sportsman that the birds are very much More silent than the English their wings give no warning of the approach of the covey. The bird is certainly favoured by certain types of weather that may be disastrous to the English bird ; and in conse- quence we have " Frenchmen's years." It is perhaps a mistake to discourage their multiplication. The old belief that they were cantankerous and drove out the English bird (as the grey squirrel drives out the brown) has been quite shattered by our research students in this branch of ornithology. The English bird is distinctly more pugnacious.' The two can live together and there may be no little advantage in encouraging the association.
W. BEAcu THOMAS.
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