Stinking?

Okay, this might be a silly question, but did the word "stinking" have a different meaning or connotation back in Jane Austen's day? I'm reading through the Juvenilia and when I came across the "stinking fish of Southampton" in Love and Freindship, I thought it was a good joke, but now I'm reading "The First Act of a Comedy" which mentions a "stinking partridge," so I just wanted to make sure that the partridge is indeed smelly and I'm not missing any context, though it again feels awfully silly to ask.