254 A FARMER'S YEAR 



blooming. These /nacit/atas, which have spotted leaves, although 

 not so richly coloured as the latifolia, are still very beautiful and 

 attractive flowers. The wood seems to be full of nesting partridges^ 

 In walking about it to pick the orchids I put a sitting bird off her 

 nest, wherein lay thirteen lovely eggs. Also I started two other 

 couples of birds, which, by their curious behaviour, showed me that 

 their young were hidden somewhere in the grass. They flew a few 

 yards, then settled again, and ran about in an agitated fashion, 

 apparently with the design of persuading me to try to catch them 

 and leave the neighbourhood of their chicks, of which, search as I 

 would, I could see no trace. As I walked away I heard the corn- 

 crake calling loudly in the fields about the wood, and looked for 

 it, but it is very difficult to fix the exact spot from which the 

 sound comes ; indeed I have never yet succeeded in the attempt. 

 The corncrake is a skilled ventriloquist. 



