Agriculture and the survival of partridges

Abstract

The conservation of game birds has long been practised in Europe although, until recently, some of the methods used may have lacked a sound ecological basis. In Britain, despite such conservation, partridge numbers have declined since the mid 1950s. There may still be a little uncertainty about the relative importance of some of the factors involved in this decline, but there can be very little doubt that radical and continuing changes in agricultural practice are the ultimate cause.