PARTRIDGE. The Partridge is a Bird very good to eat, whose Flight is low, and of little Compass. The grey Partridges are the more common, but the red ones are the larger. There are white Partridges in the Alps, which have hairy Feet. St. Austin says1, that the Partridge is a quarrelsome Animal, and loves Contention. In order to catch it, the same Inclination is made use of, that moves it to quarrel; by which Means it throws itself greedily into the Nets of the Fowler. Perdix nimis contentiosum animal, notum est quanta aviditate ipsius contentionis currat in laqueum. He compares Hereticks to them, who are greedy of Dispute, always striving for Victory to lead away the Simple. He applies to them this Passage of Jeremiah, As Jer. xvii. 11.the Partridge sitteth on Eggs, and hatcheth them not, so he that getteth Riches, and not by Right, shall leave them in the midst of his Days, and at his End shall be a Fool. St. Ambrose2 and St. Jerome a inform us, that the Partridge carries away the Eggs of another Partridge, and sits upon them as her own; but when she has hatched them, and the young ones are able to flie, they flye away, and follow the Voice of their true Dam. Commentators explain it after the same Manner. See Vatablus, Sanctius, Munster, Tirinus, Menochius, &c. But it will be difficult to give good Proofs of this from such Authors as treat of Natural History.
Eccl. ix. 30.The Septuagint reads, The Partridge cry’d, it gathered together what it had not produced. Upon which Theodoret observes3, that Fowlers make use of tame Partridges, by which they catch others; and doubtless this is what St. Austin means when he says, that the Partridge is taken by his Obstinacy, in pursuing the tame Partridge into the Net. Elian observes the same thing4, as also the Author of Ecclesiasticus, Like as a Partridge taken and kept in a Cage, so is the Heart of the Proud; and like as a Spy, watcheth he for thy Fall. The tame Partridge makes as it were its Sport and Diversion of the Destruction of other Partridges.
Some translate the Hebrew of Jeremiah after this Manner5, The Partridge lays many Eggs, but does not hatch them all. Because she makes her Nest upon the Ground, and is therefore often obliged to quit her Eggs, for fear of Cattle, Dogs, or Sportsmen, which chills her Eggs, and makes them unfruitful. Rain and Moisture also may spoil them, and sometimes the He-Partridge breaks them.
Others think that the Hebrew Word Kore, here translated a Partridge, rather signifies a Cuckow; Kore signifies that which cries, and the Cuckow is little known but by its crying. ‘Tis said not to sit upon its own Eggs, but to lay its Eggs in other Birds Nests. This agrees well enough with what is said by Jeremiah. Nothing is more uncertain than the Signification of the Hebrew Names of Birds. We have no other Proof that the Hebrew Word signifies a Partridge, but the Testimony of the Septuagint, who thus translate it. Bochart thinks it rather signifies a Woodcock, Rusticula.
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