Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/355

P A S P A S 333 of the birds flight depends not only on the position of the line of beaters, but almost on the station of each person composing it, in relation to the force and direction of the wind and to the points on which it is desired that the Partridges should converge. Again, the skill and alacrity wanted for bringing down birds flying at their utmost velocity, and often at a considerable height, is enormously greater than that which sufficed to stop those that had barely gone 20 yards from the dog s nose, though ad mittedly Partridges rise very quickly and immediately attain great speed. Moreover, the shooting of Partridges to pointers came to an end in little more than six weeks, whereas " driving " may be continued for the whole season, and is never more successful than when the birds, both young and old, have completed their moult, and are strongest upon the wing. But, whether the new fashion be objectionable or not, it cannot be doubted that to go back to the old one with success Avould necessitate a reversion to the slovenly methods of agriculture followed in former years, and therefore is as impossible as would be a return to the still older practice of taking Part ridges in a setting-net, described by Gervase Markham or Willughby. The Grey Partridge has doubtless largely increased in numbers in Great Britain since the beginning of the present century, when so much down, heath, and moor land was first brought under the plough, for its partiality to an arable country is very evident. It has been observed that the birds which live on grass lands or heather only are apt to be smaller and darker in colour than the average ; but in truth the species when adult is subject to a much greater variation in plumage than is commonly supposed, and the well-known chestnut horse-shoe mark, generally considered distinctive of the cock, is very often absent. In Asia our Partridge seems to be unknown, but in the temperate parts of Eastern Siberia its place is taken by a very nearly allied form, P. barbata, and in Tibet there is a bird, P. Jiodgsonix, which can hardly with justice be generically separated from it. The relations of some other forms inhabiting the Indian Region are at present too obscure to make any notice of them expedient here. The common Pted-legged Partridge of Europe, generally called the French Partridge, Caccabis rufa, seems to be justifiably considered the type of a separate group. 1 This bird has been introduced into England within little more than one hundred years ago, and has established itself in various parts of the country, notwithstanding a widely- spread, and in some respects unreasonable prejudice against it. It has certainly the habit of trusting nearly as much to its legs as to its wings, and thus incurred the obloquy of old-fashioned sportsmen, whose dogs it vexatiously kept at a running point; but, when it was also accused of driving away the Grey Partridge, the charge only shewed the ignorance of those that brought it, for as a matter of fact the French Partridge rather prefers ground which the common species avoids such as the heaviest clay-soils, or the most infertile heaths. But even where the two species meet, the present writer can declare from the personal ob servation of many years that the alleged antipathy between them is imaginary, and unquestionably in certain parts of the country the "head of game" has been increased by 1 Prof. Parker first (Trans. Zool. Soc., v. p. 155) and, after him, Prof. Huxley (Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868, pp. 299-302) have pointed out that the true Gallinae offer two types of structure, " one of which may be called Galline, and the other Tetraonine, " to use the latter s words, though he is " by no means clear that they do not graduate into one another"; and, according to the characters assigned by him, Caccabis lies "on the Galline side of the boundary," while Perdix belongs to the Tetraonine group. Further investigation of this matter is very desirable, and, with the abundant material possessed by zoological gardens, it might easily be carried out. the introduction of the foreigner.- The French Partridge has several congeners, all with red legs and plumage of similar character. In Africa north of the Atlas there is the Barbary Partridge, C. petrosa; in southern Europe another, C. saxatilis, which extends eastward till it is re placed by C. chukar, which reaches India, where it is a well- known bird. Two very interesting desert-forms, supposed to be allied to Caccabis, are the Ammoperdix heyi of North Africa and Palestine and the A. bonhami of Persia; but the absence of the metatarsal knob, or incipient spur, suggests (in our ignorance of their other osteological char acters) an alliance rather to the genus Perdix. On the other hand the groups of birds known as Francolins and Snow-Partridges are generally furnished with strong but blunt spurs, and therefore probably belong to the Caeca- bine group. Of the former, containing many species, there is only room here to mention the Francolin, which used to be found in many parts of the South of Europe, Francolinus vulgaris, which also extends to India, where it is known as the Black Partridge. This seems to have been the Attagas or Attagen of classical authors, 3 a bird so celebrated for its exquisite flavour, the strange disappear ance of which from all or nearly all its European haunts has been before noticed (BIRDS, vol. iii. p. 736, note), and still remains inexplicable. It is possible that this bird has been gradually vanishing for several centuries, and if so to this cause may be attributed the great uncertainty attend ing the determination of the Attagen it being a common practice among men in all countries to apply the name of a species that is growing rare to some other that is still abundant. Of the Snow- Partridges, Tetraogallus, it is only to be said here that they are the giants of their kin, and that nearly every considerable range of mountains in Asia seems to possess its specific form. By English colonists the name Partridge has been very loosely applied, and especially so in North America. Where a qualifying word is prefixed no confusion is caused, but without it there is sometimes a difficulty at first to know whether the Ruffed Grouse (Bonasa umbellus) or the Virginian Colin (Ortyx virginianus) is intended. (A. N.) PASCAL, BLAISE (1623-1662), was born at Clermont Ferrand on the 19th June 1623. His father was Etienne Pascal, president of the Court of Aids at Clermont; his mother s name was Antoinette Begon. The Pascal family were Auvergnats by extraction as well as residence, and they had for many generations held posts in the civil service. They were ennobled by Louis XI. in 1478, but, as in many other cases, no attempt seems to have been made to assume the privileged particle de. The earliest anecdote of Pascal is a singular story recorded by his niece, Marguerite Perier (the heroine of the Holy Thorn miracle), of his being bewitched, and freed from the spell by the witch with strange ceremonies. His mother died when he was abeut four years old (the exact date is differently stated), and left him with two sisters Gilberte, who after wards married M. Perier, and Jacqueline. Both sisters are of importance in their brother s history, and both are said to have been beautiful and accomplished. When Pascal was about seven years old, his mother having been already dead for some time, Etienne Pascal the father gave up his official post at Clermont, and betook himself 2 It is a singular fact that the game -preservers who object most strongly to the Red-legged Partridge are not agreed on the exact grounds of their objection. One party will declare that it vanquishes the Grey Partridge, while the other holds that, though the latter, the " English " Partridge, is much vexed by the introduced species, it invariably beats off the " Frenchman " ! 3 However, many naturalists have maintained a different opinion some making it a Woodcock, a GODWIT (q.v. ), or even the Hazel-hen (see GROUSE, vol. xi. p. 223). The question has been well discussed by Lord Lilford (Ibis, 1862, pp. 352-356).