i6 GAME-BIRDS 



seldom layinij till well on in April or ]\Iay, when the hen deposits 

 usually from ten to fifteen, or even more, eggs, which require three 

 weeks to hatch. In form the eggs vary from oval to pear -shaped, 

 and in colour usually from olive-brown to brownish cream, although 

 white and pale bluish green examples are far from uncommon ; in 

 length they arc an inch and a half or rather less. As soon as the 

 young are hatched the cock joins the party, which thenceforth forms 

 a "covey," until broken up by the gunner or until its members 

 disperse in pairs the following spring. The reluctance with which 

 partridges take to wing, their heavy whirring flight, their speed in 

 running, and their characteristic call are too well known to need 

 further mention ; and it will suffice to refer to their partiality for fields 

 of turnips and clover as places of concealment during the daytime, and 

 for stubbles in autumn as feeding-resorts. When sleeping in the open, 

 the members of a covey are believed to squat down in a circle with 

 their heads directed outwards. From 15 to 16^ oz. is an ordinary 

 weight for a partridge, although birds weighing as much as 17^ oz. are 

 not very uncommon. In England and Scotland partridge-shooting lasts 

 from September i till February i, and in Ireland from September 20 

 till January I O. 



In the old days, when grass was mown with the sc)'thc, it was no 

 uncommon event for brooding partridges to be decapitated by the 

 mowers. As the following incident, which occurred on July 19, 1905, 

 shows, hen partridges sometimes sit so close as not to be flushed by 

 the approach of a noisy mowing machine. On the date in question 

 a farmer at Richmond, Yorkshire, was cutting grass with a mowing 

 machine, when the knife took an egg from a partridge's nest on which 

 the bird at the time was sitting. The farmer picked up the c^g, which 

 was not broken, and went to put it back in the nest, when the bird 

 flew off. On examining the nest, it was found that none of the eggs 

 was injured. 



Like the pheasant, the red-legged partridge can 



only claim a iDlace among British birds as a 

 PartridErG ^ i o 



naturalised alien ; its claim, moreover, is much 

 ( Caccauis ruia) 



weaker than that of the larger bird, since its main 



introduction is much later, dating apparently from 1770, when a 



number of young ones were turned down in Suffolk by the then 



Marquis of Hertford and Lord Rendlesham. Some of these are stated 



to have been introduced into Windsor Park in the time of King 



Charles the Second, but their descendants appear to have died out. 



