14 JUNE 1935, Page 16

The grubs are a luxury to the old birds, a

necessity to the young, for the partridge adapts his feeding habit more nicely than other birds to the necessities of the seasons. He begins life as an insect eater, like most small birds. He continues as a grain eater or, so to say, a mixed feeder and, finally, when hungry winter is heavy on the land he feeds contentedly on the tips of green things ; he grazes. A correspondent asked me recently what part the ant played in the economy of nature. If to be eaten in the grub stage by partridges, in the grown stage by woodpeckers is economical, that is one part he plays ; but on his own part he is busy and ingenious ; and, we are told, an object lesson to the human sluggard.