DIFFICULTY KESPECTIXG SCEXT. 23 



instances of this. I have sometimes marked down the 

 exact spot where a bird had alighted, more especially with 

 the landrail and quail ; but on going to the place with 

 my dogs, no bird was to be found, nor would the dogs 

 be able to make out any scent. It is possible the bird 

 might have risen again without my perceiving it, when 

 employed in getting over a hedge or attending to the 

 dogs, if it had happened only once, but such a fre- 

 quent occurrence is difficult to be accounted for. There 

 can be no doubt that when pheasants and partridges 

 are sitting on the nest, Providence, to protect them 

 against vermin, has given them the power to withhold 

 their scent. I have heard of more instances than one, 

 where partridges have made their nests in hedgerows, 

 close to footpaths, and remained undisturbed until they 

 had hatched their brood, notwithstanding the path was 

 frequented by persons who had dogs with them. To 

 corroborate this, a curious incident is mentioned by Mr. 

 St. John in his amusing sj)orting work, entitled, " Wild 

 Sports of the Highlands." He says, " I knew this year of 

 a partridge's nest, which was placed close to a narrow 

 footpath near my house, and although not only my 

 people, but all my dogs, were constantly passing within a 

 foot and a half of the bird they never found her out, 

 and she hatched her brood in safety." Daniel, in his 

 " Eural Sports," mentions a remarkable instance, of a 

 partridge making her nest on the top of an oak pollard, 

 on a farm named Lion Hall in Essex ; the nest was ex- 

 amined by a workman, before the bird sat close, who 

 found sixteen eggs in it ; they were all hatched, and the 

 old bird contrived to bring the brood safe to the ground. 

 \Miat makes it more singular that the partridge should 



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