36 JOURNAL OF MAINE ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



lined with grass, in the herbage and often in exposed situations. 

 Eggs are from nine to twenty, drab or bluish. It is wellnigh im- 

 possible to see the bird upon her nest, where her blending colors of 

 gray and brown so closely match the surroundings of dry grass and 

 herbage. Both parents tend the young and employ the same wiles 

 and tricks to mislead the intruder as does the Ruffed Grouse or the 

 Bobwhite in a similar situation. lyarge numbers of eggs are never 

 hatched, and many a chick falls victim to his enemies in fur or 

 feather, owing to the exposed position of the nest or the feeding 

 ground. 



These Partridges roost upon the ground at night. Late in tlie 

 fall they "pack up" into large coveys, much as do our Prairie 

 Chickens, and these are said to be equally as wild at this time as are 

 the Chickens in the same circumstances. Rarely does the Gray Par- 

 tridge desert the open for the woods, even in hot weather, only seek- 

 ing shelter under low brush, or the broad leaves of the crops, the 

 corn, the cabbage, the turnip, the clover clump. The larger the 

 cultivation in a district the better their chance of prospering. 



Often pursued, they trust to their legs for escape, or may crouch 

 low in the grass, motionless, trusting to their plumage's matching 

 tones to render them invisible. When flushed they rise with a loud 

 whirr — the flight rather labored until under way, when they glide 

 on bowed wing rapidly and easily. As to their qualities as game 

 birds it is somewhat too early for us to speak with full decision. 

 The}' are highly esteemed in Europe, but are more often driven than 

 hunted over dogs, mainly, it is said, because the cultivated ground 

 has so little of waste spaces in hedgerows or brush to lead them to 

 lie close, so they are apt to run unseen to the end of the furrows 

 and so flush wild. They are swift of foot and very quick in all their 

 movements. If I were to express any opinion at present, I should 

 say that I should expect them to do a great deal of running before 

 the dog, especially when the young have become well grown, and 

 from the little I have seen I should judge them to be far inferior in 

 wing power to Grouse or Quail. 



I was fortunate enough to have a colony of these birds left in 



