FAMILY PARTIES 253 



had quite extraordinary success since they have adopted a 

 principle of natural selection ; and mated their captive birds 

 according to the birds' own sense of affinity. The difference 

 in productivity has been remarkable, as compared with the 

 older way of casual mating. 



In their curious breeding establishments advantage has 

 also been taken of the parental zeal of the cock bird in taking 

 care of the covey. If a cock bird is caught up and kept in 

 confinement until a clutch of eggs is hatched artificially or 

 under a hen, he can be quite safely trusted with the youngsters. 

 He adopts them at once, shows every sign of parental fussi- 

 ness, and when released with this adopted family continues 

 to cherish them as attentively as would their own mother. 



It is the custom on some estates, adopting what is known 

 as the Euston system, to put into a wild bird's nest as many 



PARTRIDGE CHICKS 



as thirty eggs which are on the point of hatching. The 

 bird has previously been supplied with boiled eggs of ancient 

 date to induce her to remain sitting. When this vast family 

 is hatched, both birds will on occasion ' mother ' the brood. 

 Keepers have seen the two sitting head to head — a real 

 tete-d-tete — to keep the thirty warm. It is an instance of the 

 extreme courage of the bird when the family is expected that 

 she will permit the keeper to push her with a stick from the 

 nest, and will not move off more than a yard or two. 



A small personal experience will illustrate the affection of 

 the parents. A whole brood of partridge chicks were found 



