42 THE PHEASANT SUBFAMILY 



obtained at the Irish light-stations (cf. Ussher and Warren, B. of Ireland, 1900, 

 p. 233). The species has also occurred on Heligoland (cf. Gatke, Vogelwarte Helgo- 

 land, Eng. trans., 1895, p. 443), but it is altogether more decidedly migratory on 

 the Continent. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. The nest is placed in a depression scratched out by 

 the hen, in a hedgerow, under shelter of a bush, or among grass on a bankside, as 

 a rule ; but occasionally it breeds on stacks, and has been found nesting in ivy 

 twelve feet from the ground. The only lining to the nest consists of a little dead 

 grass and dead leaves, with which the eggs are covered during the absence of the 

 hen. (PI. LXI.) The eggs, as a rule, range from 10 or 12 to 20 or so in number, but at 

 times large clutches of 30 to 40 eggs are met with, which are due to more than one 

 hen laying in the same nest. In colour they vary from olive-brown to greyish olive, 

 but occasionally blue eggs, or eggs with a blue band, are found. It is not uncommon 

 to find partridge's eggs in the same nest as those of other species, such as the red- 

 legged-partridge, pheasant, etc. Average size of 90 eggs, 1*38x1 '05 in. [35 - 2x 

 26*8 mm.]. Incubation is carried on by the hen alone, the cock keeping guard 

 close at hand, and as a rule lasts for 24 days (Evans and Heinroth), some eggs not 

 hatching till the 25th day : Saunders, however, gives the period as 21 to 23 days. 

 As a rule the first eggs are not laid till late in April, but there are a few records 

 of full clutches early in the month, though the average date when incubation 

 begins is the middle of May for England, and a week or two later in the north. 

 Only one brood is reared in the season, but if the first clutch is destroyed, the 

 second laying may be delayed for a month or so, and eggs have been seen in 

 September and October. [F. c. R. J.] 



5. Food. The young shoots and leaves of grass and clover form the staple 

 diet ; but the tender shoots of heather, bramble, and blaeberry are also eaten 

 when they are to be had. In the summer spiders, grasshoppers, beetles, ants, flies, 

 the pupae of the crane-fly, and aphides are greedily eaten. The young feed on 

 insects and their larvae, and are accompanied in their search for food by both 

 parents, [w. p. P.] 



REDLEGGED-PARTRIDGE [CdccaUs nifa (Linnaeus). French 

 partridge, Frenchman, red-leg. French, perdrix rouge ; German, Rothuhn ; 

 Italian, pernice]. 



I. Description. The adult redlegged-partridge may at once be distinguished 

 by the pale grey flanks which are conspicuously barred with black, white, chestnut- 



