12 The Partridge Family 



while the pugnacity of the cock forbids the theory 

 of two pairs entering upon a joint housekeeping. 

 It is therefore only reasonable to suppose that in 

 some instances, at least, a single cock mates with 

 two hens. Presumably, the young from such a 

 nest would be cared for by the two hens. Be that 

 as it may, the writer has often flushed broods of 

 thirty-odd half-grown young which were accom- 

 panied by three mature birds, one cock and two 

 hens, while other broods, almost if not quite as 

 strong, would be with one cock and hen. Some 

 of the confusion regarding this point has no doubt 

 been caused by the fact of the hen frequently 

 hatching two broods in a single season. In such 

 cases the first brood is carefully cared for by the 

 male, while his mate is brooding the second lot of 

 eggs. When these are hatched the two broods 

 unite, which accounts for the unusually large 

 young bevies frequently described by sportsmen. 

 The man who only studies the quail along the 

 rib of a breech-loader knows the bird merely dur- 

 ing the shooting season. To him a big bevy is 

 a big bevy and nothing more, and he doesn't 

 bother himself over the fact that some of his birds 

 are a bit smaller and less developed than others. 

 Slight differences which to a trained observer at 

 once betray the two broods, are lost to the man 

 who shoots for love of killing, and whose sole 

 desire is for birds big enough to show his 



