96 PARTRIDGES 



supplant them by methods of our own, 

 recognizing that the partridge is a better 

 parent than any substitute we can hope 

 to provide, and that birds reared under 

 natural conditions in a wild state make 

 the best and healthiest stock. 



At the end of April each keeper has 

 served out to him a large scale map of his 

 beat, and a tabulated notebook in which 

 to keep his records. From the first week 

 in May till the old birds have begun to 

 sit after which time undue disturbance 

 of the ground must be avoided the 

 keepers are out from dawn till close on 

 mid-day systematically hunting for the 

 nests. Each nest as found is marked on 

 the map with a number in a circle, and 

 under the corresponding figure in the note- 

 book is entered the day on which the bird 

 began to sit, the number of eggs hatched 

 and addled, what eggs were changed or 

 added to the nest, and the cause of any 

 disaster, should it occur. About two- 

 thirds to three-fourths of the total nests 

 the proportion varying according to the 



