384 TETRAONID^. 



cave, rounded in form ; the first three feathers shorter than the fourth or 

 fifth, which are the longest in the wing. Tail, of fourteen to eighteen 

 feathers, short. Feet, with three toes in front, and one behind, those in 

 front united by a membrane as far as the first articulation. 



THE enlarged demands of an increasing population, 

 tempting prices in seasons of scarcity, or the progress of 

 science unfolding the nature of soils, have each in turn 

 induced the cultivation of various tracts of ground un- 

 ploughed before ; and as the labours of the agriculturists 

 encroach upon the boundaries of the moor, the Grouse re- 

 tires, and the Partridge takes its place upon the land : the 

 districts best cultivated, and producing the most corn, fre- 

 quently also producing the greatest number of Partridges. 



Of a bird so universally known, little that is new can be 

 said ; with its appearance and its habits almost all are fami- 

 liar. These birds pair in February ; but seldom begin to 

 lay eggs till towards the end of April or the beginning of 

 May : a slight depression in the ground, with a few dead 

 leaves or dried grass bents scratched together, serves for a 

 nest ; and the place chosen is sometimes only a few yards 

 from a public footpath. Occasionally, also, the nest of a 

 Partridge is found in a situation the least likely to be occu- 

 pied by a bird so decidedly terrestrial in its habits. In 

 Daniel's Rural Sports, it is recorded that a Partridge made 

 her nest on the top of an oak pollard ; and this tree had 

 one end of the bars of a stile, where there was a foot-path, 

 fastened into it, and by the passengers going over the stile 

 before she sat close, she was disturbed, and first discovered. 

 She there hatched sixteen eggs ; and her brood, scrambling 

 down the short and rough boughs which grew out all round 

 from the trunk of the tree, reached the ground in safety. 

 The eggs of the Partridge are, however, mostly deposited 

 among brushwood or long grass, or in fields of clover and 

 standing corn ; they are of a uniform olive brown colour, 



