360 TETRAONID^. 



concealing itself among vegetation of the same general hue 

 as itself, is a beautiful bird. Its gait is graceful, its feet 

 small and light, its head well raised ; and its plumage, 

 though devoid of striking contrasts, is exquisitely pen- 

 cilled, each feather on the back and breast being veined 

 like the gauzy wings of a fly. The most conspicuous part 

 of the plumage of the male bird, the horse-shoe on its 

 breast, is invisible as it walks or crouches, and the general 

 tone approaches that of the soil. 



Partridges pair early in the year ; but the hen does not 

 begin to lay until May, nor to sit until towards the be- 

 ginning of June. The nest is merely a depression in the 

 ground, into Av^hich a few straws or dead leaves have been 

 drawn. It is sometimes placed among brushwood under a 

 hedge, but more frequently in the border of a field of 

 hay, clover, or corn, or in the wide field itself. The mow- 

 ing season, unfortunately, is not noted in the calendar of 

 I^ature ; so the mother-bird, who is a close sitter, is not 

 unfrequently destroyed by the scythe, or, at all events, 

 is driven away, and returns to find her eggs carried off to 

 be intrusted to the care of a domestic hen. In unusually 

 wet seasons, nests which have been fixed in low situations 

 are flooded, and the eggs being thus reduced to a low 

 temperature become addle. When this has taken place, 

 the Partridge makes a second laying, and a late brood is 

 reared. * 



JSTot withstanding this, however. Partridges are exceed- 

 ingly prolific, and are said to be increasing in numbers in 

 proportion as new lands are reclaimed from the waste. It 

 must certainly be admitted that, in bad seasons, they are 

 treated with a consideration that would scarcely be shown 

 towards them if they were simply destroyers of grain and 

 had nothing to recommend them as objects of sport or as 

 delicacies for the table. When abundant, they fall freely 

 before the sportsman's gun ; but when the coveys are 

 cither small or few, they are treated with forbearance, and 



