NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 45 



an appearance of studied indifference, 

 during this performance, strolling on as 

 though there were nothing of interest to 

 make her pause ; the cock, nowise abashed, 

 then stalks on in front of her and begins 

 all over again, finishing up by standing 

 on tiptoe and crowing loudly with rapid 

 clapping of the wings. 



The time of mating over, the cock — 

 with rare exceptions — takes himself off, 

 leaving to the hen the whole burden of 

 family life. She scratches out a slight 

 hollow in the ground, usually more or 

 less hidden by or in the shade of bramble, 

 bracken or tussock of grass, lines this 

 rough attempt at a nest with a few stems 

 of grass or leaves, and lays therein from 

 8 to 15 of the familiar olive brown eggs, 

 less commonly of a pale blue-green colour. 



The practice of nesting in covert is less 

 natural than induced by the general lack 

 of growth outside in field and hedgerow 

 during early spring ; were her choice less 

 restricted by circumstance, the hen would 

 prefer some shelving, sunny bank with 



