A male partridge (which is wont to hatch the eggs of other birds) — R. Eliezer says: It is subject to being sent away, it being written "Send shall you send." The sages say: It is exempt, it being written "the mother-bird" — to exclude the male partridge.
If one takes the mother-bird together with the young, (transgressing a negative commandment) — R. Yehudah says: He is lashed and does not send it away. The sages say: He sends it away and does not get lashes. This is the rule: All negative commandments annexed to positive commandments are not liable to stripes, (awaiting the fulfillment of the positive commandment). "You shall not take" — even to cleanse the leper. (Ibid. 7) "so that it shall be good for you and you prolong days": Now does this not follow a fortiori, viz.: If of a (monetarily) negligible mitzvah, (the expense involved in its performance) being no more than an issar, the Torah writes "so that it shall be good for you and you shall prolong days," how much more so is this true of the "formidable" mitzvoth of the Torah! (Ibid. 8).