A FEATHERED SPRINTER 93 



This bird does not build an elaborate nest. There is 

 no necessity for it to do so. A nest is a nursery in 

 which young birds are for a time sheltered from the 

 dangers that beset them in the world. When they have 

 developed sufficiently to be able to look after them- 

 selves they leave the nest. 



It is one of the characteristics of the gallinaceous 

 family of birds, which includes grouse, poultry, pea- and 

 guinea-fowl, pheasants, turkeys, and quail, that their 

 young are able to run about almost immediately after 

 issuing from the egg. They are born covered with 

 down, and are thus at first very unlike their parents. 

 They are in reality larvae, that is to say, embryonic 

 forms which are able to fend for themselves with little 

 or no assistance from their parents. They change into 

 the adult form, not hidden away in a nursery, but in the 

 open world. 



The nest, then, of the partridge is a very in- 

 significant affair. It is usually a depression in the 

 ground, so shallow as to be barely perceptible, and 

 always well concealed in a bush or tuft of grass. Some- 

 times the eggs are laid on the bare soil, but more usually 

 the depression is lined with grass or leaves. Occasionally 

 the lining is so thick as to form a regular pad. From 

 six to nine whitish eggs are laid. These do not match 

 the ground or material on which they lie, hence cannot 

 be considered as examples of protective colouring. 

 Their safety depends on the fact that they are hidden 

 away under a bush or tuft of grass. The hen, too, is a 

 very close sitter, and her plumage assimilates well with 

 the surroundings of the nest. 



