PARTRIDGES. 313 



the eggs, and was so attentive to the care of hatching 

 them, that he scarcely took time to go in search of foocL 

 At the expiration of the usual time, twenty-eight young 

 ones were produced; and the cock, who was now in some 

 measure the parent of this numerous offspring, appeared 

 a good deal perplexed, when he saw so many little ani- 

 mals pecking around him, and requiring his constant 

 vigilance; they were therefore removed, from a fear that 

 he might tread upon or neglect them. 



Generally speaking, the Partridge is a much shyer 

 bird than the Pheasant, and though we have found it, in 

 the above case, quitting its own species to live with 

 another, it can seldom be induced to lay aside its natu- 

 ral habits, and become quite tame. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, by great care, they have been known to attach 

 themselves to man. 



In a clergyman's family, one was reared, which be- 

 came so familiar, that it would attend the parlour at 

 breakfast, and other times, and would afterwards stretch 

 itself before the fire, seeming to enjoy the warmth, as 

 if it were its natural bask on a sunny bank. The 

 dogs of the house never molested it, but unfortunately 

 it one day fell under the paws of a strange cat, and was- 

 killed. 



The Partridge, as is well known, usually builds in corn- 

 fields, where, undisturbed amidst a forest of tall wheat- 

 stems, it rears its brood. Like other birds, it sometimes,, 

 however, chooses a very different sort of nursery, as for 

 instance, a hay-stack, on the top of which a nest was 

 once formed, a covey hatched, and safely carried off. 



In England we have but one sort, but in France, and 

 other parts of Europe, they have beautiful varieties, 

 the red-legged, Barbary Partridges, &c. ; and in America 

 there are again other sorts peculiar to the New World. 

 We shall give Captain Head's lively description of two 

 varieties, the larch and spruce Partridges, which he 

 met with in his expedition into the interior, near Lake- 

 Huron. 



