JUNE. 97 



UNSEASONABLE PAIRS. 



June 19. In every field now one puts up pairs of 

 partridges during the winter two partridges make a 

 " brace," irrespective of sex ; during summer we may 

 call each male and female a " pair " but this, though 

 welcome enough in February, is a sad sight in June. 

 It means that the bad weather of the first fortnight 

 of this " month of roses " drowned out many of the 

 partridges' nests, and when the shooting season ought 

 to begin there will be many coveys of birds no bigger 

 than sparrows, and scarcely able to flutter after their 

 mother over a hedge. This is inevitable, because, 

 although from eggs laid now fairly-fledged coveys 

 might be on the wing by "the First," there is always 

 so much uncertainty in the affairs of big birds like 

 partridges, which nest about our frequented fields, 

 that many will meet with second failure, even if 

 the weather henceforth should be propitious, and so 

 will prolong their breeding season into our shooting 



WASTED LABOURS. 



For the bad weather came this year at the worst 

 possible time. Everywhere on the east coast, at 

 any rate, the partridges' eggs were on the point of 

 hatching, so that the whole time of incubation of the 

 spoiled eggs had been wasted and the hen birds have 

 been enfeebled by their close imprisonment on duty 

 day after day. Gamekeepers generally believe, too, 

 that the actual loss is greater at such times, because 



H 



