AXn XEIGUBOUEIIOOD. 299 



destroy eggs ; the second amply compensates for any 

 harm done to game by the destruction of mice and 

 young rats ; against the third we have never person- 

 ally been able to prove the charge of egg-stealing, 

 and snakes are not sufficiently common in our 

 neighbourhood to do any appreciable amount of 

 mischief by terrifying the hen bird from her eggs and 

 causing her to forsake them, as is frequently the case 

 in localities in which these reptiles are abundant. 

 We consider from sixteen to nineteen about an 

 average complement of eggs for the present specie?, 

 and are inclined to look upon the frequent instances 

 of twenty-five or thirty eggs as the layings of two 

 birds in one nest. Before the full complement is 

 laid, the bird wdll often cover her eggs with a few 

 dry leaves, and we have several times been puzzled 

 by this device in finding a previously discovered nest 

 on a second visit. Many authentic instances are on 

 record in Vvhich Partridges have been known to move 

 their eggs from dangerous situations. In an average 

 season, we consider from about the IGth till the end 

 of June as the critical hatching-time. In one 

 instance in which we had special facilities for obser- 

 vation, from the fact of the nest being situated in a 

 flower-bed close to the house at Lilford, one egg in a 

 laying of seventeen was cracked on the morning 

 of June 18th, and on the afternoon of the 21st 

 seventeen young birds had come safely into the 

 world : in this case the male bird was in a constant 

 state of anxiety during the process of hatching, and 

 ran to and fro on the stone balustrade which sur- 

 rounds the flower-garden, calling loudly at all hours 

 of the day. Both the parent birds will show great 

 courage in attacking dogs, cats, or any winged 



