106 THE COMMON PARTRIDGE 



after leaving the foster-mothers do little mischief to beds and 

 borders, while they certainly keep the grounds remarkably 

 clear of predatory crawling pests. 



In vegetable grounds hand-reared pheasants are a plague. The 

 old birds clear rows of sprouting peas and beans, and the " poults" 

 or young pheasants devour all the peas in pod within their "jump- 

 up " reach. Old and young alike have a penchant for green stuff, 

 pecking off the tops of nearly all kinds of cultivated vegetable 

 crops. 



The COMMON PARTRIDGE (Perdix cinered), Fig. 66, is a Rasorial 

 bird, forming the type of the sub-family Perdicinae, which in turn 

 forms a division of the main family of the Tetraonidiae or grouse. 

 The beak in the partridge is much shortened, and the edges of the 

 mandibles are not indented. The nostrils are protected by a 

 scale. A red stripe destitute of feathers occupies the place of the 

 eyebrows. The hind toes are more or less elevated at the 

 tarsi, which are scaly. The general habitat of partridges is 

 in the comparatively flat pastoral grounds of hilly districts, but 

 they are also found in woody places or amongst rocky cliffs. The 

 nest is usually situated in a hollow of the ground. The progeny 

 is numerous, and the young are able to run about and provide for 

 themselves on leaving the egg. 



The Common Partridge chiefly inhabits cultivated fields in Britain. 

 The breeding season takes place in February, the males frequently 

 engaging in combats for the possession of the females. The eggs, 

 numbering ten to fifteen or more, are deposited in a rude nest usually 

 amongst long grass on the outskirts of pleasure grounds, borders 

 of young plantations, and in meadows or under a hedge in pastures 

 at the end of May or beginning of June, the female taking upon 

 herself the whole duties of incubation, although the male, after the 

 young birds are hatched, shares the duties of its mate. The parent 

 birds are very solicitous regarding the welfare of the young, running 

 before the intruder, and by fluttering in an opposite direction strive 

 to distract his attention from the neighbourhood of the nest or 

 young. Instances are on record of the parent partridges success- 

 fully engaging a carrion crow in defence of their young. The part- 

 ridges collect in late summer, autumn and winter in flocks of small 

 size, known as " coveys," but they separate in spring to pair and 

 incubate. 



The food of partridges consists chiefly of grass, leguminous herb- 

 age, young seeds, and also of insects, and the birds feed in the early 

 morning and late in the evening. The roosting place of the covey 

 is generally in the middle of a grass or stubble field, the birds 

 usually selecting a dry and comparatively high knoll. In the late 

 summer and early autumn the " coveys " are generally found in potato 

 and turnip fields, and in winter resort to furze coverts and similar 

 wild districts, 



