254 THE PARTRIDGE. CHAP. xm. 



the Linncean Journal, and other Natural History 

 publications. 



In one of Edward's articles in the Zoologist, he 

 thus refers to a circumstance which happened during 

 one of the last excursions he took with his reverend 

 friend. He is referring to the partridge (Perdix 

 cinerea). " A very cunning and faithful mother is 

 the female , for when she has eggs, she never leaves 

 her nest without hiding them so carefully that it is 

 almost impossible to detect their whereabouts ; and 

 if you take her by surprise, away she hobbles on one 

 leg, and a wing trailing on the ground, as if wounded ! 

 . . . Wandering about the Waggle Hill one day with 

 my friend the Rev. Mr. Smith, I chanced to observe 

 a moor-fowl squatted on the ground amongst the 

 heather, close to my feet ; in fact, I stood above her 

 before I noticed her. Being summer time, I at once 

 guessed the nature of the case. On my friend com- 

 ing up, I drew his attention to the bird over which I 

 stood. ' Oh,' he said, ' she's surely dead, Mr. 

 Edward.' ' Oh, no,' said I ; ' there are eggs or young 

 beneath her.' ' Well,' he answered, * if so, it is 

 certainly a very wonderful circumstance, but we shall 

 see.' Then, stooping down, he touched the bird, 

 but she did not move. ' She must be alive,' he said, 

 'because she is warm ; but she must be wounded, 

 and not able to rise or fly/ ' Oh, no,' I once more 

 said ; ' she has something beneath her which she is 

 unwilling to leave.' The bird allowed him to stroke 



