COMMON PARTRIDGE. 385 



one inch five lines in length, by one inch and half a line in 

 breadth, and from twelve to twenty are produced by one 

 female. Twenty-eight eggs in one instance, and thirty- 

 three eggs in two other instances, are recorded as having 

 been found in one nest ; but there is little doubt in these 

 cases, that more than one bird had laid eggs in the same 

 nest. In one of the instances recorded, in which the 

 nest, with thirty-three eggs, was in a fallow field, twenty- 

 three young birds were hatched out and went off with the 

 old ones, and four of the eggs left behind had live birds in 

 them. The attachment of Partridges to their eggs and 

 young is proverbial. Montagu mentions an instance in 

 which a Partridge, on the point of hatching, was taken, 

 together with her eggs, and carried in a hat to some dis- 

 tance ; she continued to sit, and brought out her young. 

 Mr. Jesse mentions two cases : " A farmer discovered a 

 Partridge sitting on its eggs in a grass-field. The bird 

 allowed him to pass his hand frequently down its back 

 without moving, or showing any fear ; but if he offered to 

 touch the eggs, the poor bird immediately pecked his hand. 

 A gentleman living near Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, was one 

 day riding over his farm and superintending his ploughmen, 

 who were ploughing a piece of fallow land. He saw a 

 Partridge glide off her nest so near the foot of one of his 

 plough-horses, that he thought the eggs must be crushed : 

 this, however, was not the case ; but he found that the old 

 bird was on the point of hatching, as several of the eggs 

 were beginning to chip. He saw the old bird return to 

 her nest the instant he left the spot. It was evident that 

 the next round of the plough must bury the eggs and 

 nest in the furrow. His surprise was great when, return- 

 ing with the plough, he came to the spot, and saw the 

 nest indeed, but the eggs and bird were gone. An idea 

 struck him that she had removed her eggs ; and he found 



VOL. II. C C 



