TJicir Eggs and Nests. 1 5 i 



grass, and consists of little but a slight depression in 

 the ground, with a few dead leaves and bents. The 

 number of eggs varies between eight or ten, and 

 twenty. But it is no uncommon thing for two Par- 

 tridges to lay in the same nest, and an instance came 

 to my knowledge a good many years since, in which a 

 Red-legged Partridge had laid several eggs in a 

 Common Partridge's nest. When two birds lay to- 

 gether thus, the covey sometimes amounts to thirty or 

 thirty-five birds. I knew one instance of forty, about 

 thirty years since. The male Partridge is known to 

 help his mate, when the hatch is drawing on, by 

 sitting at her side and covering some of the eggs. 

 When there are two layings in the same nest, it is an 

 interesting question whether the two hens sit to- 

 gether, or the original owner of the nest is simply 

 assisted by her mate. The young birds are able to 

 run and " fend for themselves " almost as soon as they 

 are hatched. The eggs are of a uniform pale olive- 

 brown hue. — Fig. Q, plate VI. 



RED-LEGGED VKKTRIDG^— {Caeca b lis rttfa ; 

 formerly, Perdix riifa). 



French Partridge, Guernsey Partridge. — A much 

 more striking bird in appearance than the Common 

 Partridge, and said also to be a powerful enemy to it. 

 Certainly, in districts where it has been encouraged 

 and preserved, it seems to have prevailed to the com- 

 parative exclusion of the indigenous species. It is 

 supposed to have been first introduced about the time 

 of Charles II. For long it seems to have increased 

 and spread but very slowly, but now there are many 



