194 Pheasant Rcarino; Under ''Broodies."' 



Game lien made a nest (it tlic Ixntoin of a thick hedge ;'nd as it 

 tvas \vonderfulIy well hidden 1 decided to let her take her chance, adding 

 the Pheasants' eggs and leaving four of her own. (She has heen 

 paired to a cock Guinea Fowl all the season, the two having been quite 

 inseparable.) 1 



These eggs after she had been sitting i6 days, began 

 to disappear until all except five had gone and the hen herself 

 deserted. I suspected a hedgehog or a rat, but to my ^iirpr's? 

 a trap baited with an q'^^^ produced a stoat. 



Further investigation disclosed a regular collection of 

 eggs some i o yards further down the hedgte„ which consisted 

 of 2 Goldens, 3 Kalige, 2 Ban.'ams, and 4 small white eggs 

 about the size of a pigeons. W'ha*^ these eggs are I have 

 no idea. 



I don't think i know of any other kind of white eggs 

 of this size except a pigeon's, and surely they could not be 

 that ! 



Perhaps Eomc of our members can help mc 10 idtniify 

 them. 



I have put them for the present under a bantam, but 

 don't expect for a moment they will be any good, in which case 

 I would be very pleased to send them on to any member for 

 id.entification. The nearest pigeon loft is at least 60 yards 

 away, and this, a small one, to which there is no possible entry 

 from the ground so far as I can see, is situated on a lawn 

 near the house. 



Moreover the eggs, while about the size of a pigeon's 

 are not quite the same shape and I can't think that they do 

 belong to one of these birds. 



Though what else they could possibly be, I admit, 

 completely baffles me. 



It seems rather curious, I00, that this animal did not 

 apparently attack the broody, nor, as vvill appear later, was 

 this his only depredation at my expense, neither did he inter- 

 fere with yet another broody v>hose clutch he raided. 



Nor for the matter of that did I lose any bantams, 

 either, adult or young, which are always scratching about m 

 this particular hedge. 



