102 THE COMMON PARTRIDGE. 



Scotland supplies many of the more northern mar- 

 kets with this game. 



Very early in spring the first mild days even 

 of February the Partridges have paired, and each 

 couple may be found, near the part selected for their 

 summer abode, long before the actual preparations 

 for incubation have commenced. These are begun at 

 a later period than generally imagined, and even in 

 the beginning of September, particularly in the 

 wilder districts, the young are not more than half 

 grown. The nest is formed, or rather the spot 

 where the eggs are to be deposited, is scraped out 

 in some ready made hollow or furrow, or placed 

 under cover of a tuft of grass, and from twelve to 

 twenty eggs are deposited. This mode of nidi- 

 fication prevails through the whole genus. No 

 nest is made, and often no great care of conceal- 

 ment is displayed. In cultivated countries, the 

 young grasses and corns are their favourite breeding 

 places, the former often fatal, from the hay-harvest 

 having commenced before the brood is hatched. 

 The choice of a place of security for their eggs is 

 not always the same, for Montague mentions a pair 

 which successively selected the top of an old pol- 

 lard oak, and Mr. elby writes of having known 

 several parallel cases. It is a singular trait in the 

 habits of many birds, that those of a wild nature 

 will often select the most frequented parts for their 

 nests. Both Partridges and Pheasants are often 

 discovered with the nest placed within two or three 

 feet of a highway or footpath, where there is a 



