302 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



with them ; then followed a cycle of bad and in- 

 different seasons, till 1868, a year of extraordinary 

 drought, but many birds, since which period we had 

 a majority of bad seasons till 1878 ; then a fairly 

 good one, three bad, and three decidedly good. On 

 the light stony soils to the south and south-east of 

 Stamford we have occasionally found Partridges in 

 numbers which would compare favourably with the 

 best districts of Norfolk, and enjoyed the cream of 

 shooting in the muzzle-loading days, but the details 

 of the seasons, as above related, refer to our own 

 Lilford shootings exclusively. We have occasionally 

 enjoyed fair sport at Partridges with the Hawks of 

 our " Old Hawking Club," but our district is by 

 no means a good one for that form of sport, owing 

 to the abundance of thick fences, woods, and 

 plantations. 



The Grey Partridge seldom perches, but we once 

 in Lancashire saw five alight upon the roof of a 

 cottage, and one of the gamekeepers at Lilford 

 assured us that in August 1884 he saw some eight or 

 nine of these birds upon the top bar of a field-gate 

 near Achurch. The partiality of Partridges for the 

 neighbourhood of roads and well-used footpaths as a 

 nesting-site is well known, and is probably owing to 

 the facilities afforded by such spots for " busking " 

 or dusting themselves. We have heard of an 

 instance in which the clerk of a parish in one of 

 our eastern counties gave notice during a Sunday 

 morning's service that the rector requested his 

 congregation not to use the usual approach to the 

 church on account of a Partridge sitting on her nest 

 close thereunto. The Partridge sits very closely and 

 constantly, but will easily desert her eggs if suddenly 



