172 On the Occurrence of some of the Barer Species of Birds 



many " Brace of Birds/'' I am bold to say that this homely little 

 bird attracts more notice^ and affords a more general topic of conver- 

 sation, year by year, than any other bird, 1 was going to say, almost 

 any other thing, in our islands. There is no need to speak at any 

 length of it, as every lover of Nature has his own store of anecdotes 

 and bird-lore connected with it, yet I cannot pass over my old 

 friend altogether without a recognition. This bird is not always 

 very careful as to the situation it selects for its nest; oftentimes 

 choosing a place where there is very little probability of its ever 

 hatching out its young in safety. An instance of this I cannot 

 help recording. I was once playing in a village cricket match ia 

 the field just in front of the vicarage. Through this field a footpath 

 runs : and on this occasion it lay between the wickets and the post 

 usually called " Point/^ which was not more than two or three yards 

 from the pathway. We had not been playing long when the at- 

 tention of the fieldsman at "Point" was attracted to a tuft of 

 rather thicker and darker herbage than the rest (our village grounds, 

 dear reader, are not, as a rule, quite equal to " Lords " or " The 

 Oval'"), and, on stooping down to examine it more closely, he ex- 

 claimed, " Why, here^s a Partridge's nest with seven eggs.'" This 

 was latish in the summer, and yet there that nest had remained 

 undiscovered to that very moment, although then, of course, for a 

 long time deserted. No passer by had ever seen it, and it was close 

 by the Church path, constantly used. The mowers had mown over 

 it without noticing it; the haymakers had made hay over it, and 

 yet had neither seen nor trodden upon it ; and, more curious still, no 

 prying Jackdaw or Rook had found it out, or plundered it ; and it 

 was reserved for my friend to discover it in this most unique way — 

 a way in which I much doubt whether Partridge's nest was ever 

 found before — i.e., by a fieldsman at " Point " in the midst of a 

 cricket match. 



But though not always over careful about the situation of its 

 nest, this bird is a very close sitter, and will defend its eggs and 

 young to the last. Over and over again is the sitting bird killed 

 by the mowers in the long grass ; whereas, if it is near hatching, 

 it has often been known to remove its eggs, to the nearest hedge, or 



