"English Partridges"

by Archibald Thorburn

Gouttelette Print

Paper Size: 18 x 24 ins / 46 x 60 cm

Image Size: 14 x 20 ins / 36 x 50 cm

Archibald Thorburn wrote: "Looking at things with the eye of the ordinary lover of nature, one can only attempt to represent with brush and pencil the wonderful beauty of the living creatures around us. The chief essential is to acquire the faculty of observing and noting down the many subtle differences in toes and little tricks of habit in different species, and this knowledge can only be obtained by patient watching."

The partridge is a bird of the pheasant family "phasianidae". They are non-migratory and are native to Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Middle East. They are ground-nesting seed-eaters and many species are hunted for sport or game.

The English partridge is perhaps better known as the Grey Partridge ("perdix perdix") and breeds on farmland across most of Europe and much of North America. They nest usually in the margin of cereal fields, and hens can lay up to 20 eggs in one nest.

The partridge is a plump bird with a brown back, grey flanks and chest and a white belly. English partridges can fly a short distant on rounded wings, and have a distinctive “rick-rick-rick” cry when rising to flight. They fly with whirring wings and occasional glides, but the birds actually spend most of the time on the ground - and certainly not in pear trees!

Numbers have declined considerably in recent years due to the loss of the bird’s natural habitat.


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