SWALLOW TRIBE. 45 



time. However, recovering a little, she made 

 her escape ; and, in about an hour after, he was 

 agreeably surprised by her return, and she would 

 afterwards frequently feed the young while he 

 held the nest in his hand. 



The partridge has generally been represented 

 by ornithologists as possessing a more than ordi- 

 nary share of affection for its offspring, and the 

 anecdote I am about to relate tends greatly to 

 corroborate this idea. A near relation of my 

 own* was told by the late Rev. W. Evans, of 

 Mayfield, near Ashburn, that, some years since, 

 his men, who were employed in cutting a field 

 of mowing-grass, brought him a hen partridge 

 which they had caught on her nest. Being 

 desirous to save the eggs from destruction, he 

 ordered that they should be removed to his 

 house, and placed on some hay in an unoccu- 

 pied room, intending to put them under the 

 care of a domestic hen ; but wishing to know 

 whether the parent bird would take any notice 

 of them in this novel situation or not, he directed 

 that she should be set down near them, when, 

 to his great astonishment, she immediately ran 

 to the spot where they were deposited, and, 

 covering them with the utmost care, continued 



* John BlackwaU, Esq., of Blackwall, Derbyshire. 



