Balled Partridges.

Otago Witness, Issue 2661, 15 March 1905, Page 72

Balled Partridges.

In certain districts where the soil is exactly right (or, rather, exactly wrong), the partridges carefully pres<?r\ecl in England are likely to be attacked by a peculiar misfortune known sia "balling." Thj word 1 means simply that a partridge hatched out on a clay soil in wet weather jnay find mud adhering to its feet as it struggles along after the mother bird. This is a small beginning; but tho chances are that the earth accumulates. Sometimes, indeed, tho soil attached to. th© foot of a little partridge will increase from a mere speck to a weight of several ounces. A writer in Badminton says that the heaviest ball he ever knew weighed 4oz, and the bird which carried it was only half its proper size, although tho rest of the covey were full grows. The little creature oould

only move along in a kind of flying scramble, dragging the ball on the ground. Ibe clay was baked as hard as a brick, so that it was no easy matter to remove ifc. Finally, it was soaked off. and then it became apparent, that th© bird, without its accustomed ballast, did not know how to ! fly. With every effort it tumbled head over heels, and "learned the natural mode only after long trying. Tho fate of a "balled" partridge which is not rescued by some kindly hand is a cruel one. Day by day the burden grows luavier, and 1 the mere tho chick scrambles after its companions the larger its burden becomes. Finally, it is no longer possible to move at all, and then the little thing can but give up and die. Naturalist* say that this balling of birds is one of Nature's provisions for scattering seeds. It is easy to demonstrate this, and the "answer comes true.'" One experimenter scattered the earth from a 3oz ball over the top of a pan of ordinary earth, which had boon baked to destroy the sneds in it. Ten plants sprang up in due time, and developed into seven varieties*