Note CI — {358} CHAP. X.[124]

Mr. Dragge observes, in his North West Passage, that when the partridges begin to change colour, the first brown feathers appear in the rump; but this is so far from being a general rule, that an experienced Hudsonian must smile at the idea. That Mr. Dragge never saw an instance of this kind I will not say, but when Nature deviates so far from its usual course, it is undoubtedly owing to some accident; and nothing is more likely than that the feathers of the bird Mr. Dragge had examined, had been struck off by a hawk; and as the usual season for changing their plumage was near, the Summer feathers supplied their place; for out of the many hundreds of thousands that I have seen killed, I never saw or heard of a similar instance.