Egg-time 63 



him. They may be taken elsewhere, or they may even 

 be broken out of spite if the finder thinks he has a 

 grudge to repay. Now that every field is enclosed, and 

 for the most part well cultivated and looked after, the 

 business of the egg-stealer is considerably diminished. 

 He cannot roam over the country at his fancy ; his 

 egg-finding is nearly restricted to the locality of which 

 he possesses minute knowledge. 



Thus workmen engaged in the towns, but sleeping 

 several miles out in the villages, can keep a register 

 of the slight indications they observe morning after 

 morning as they cross the fields by the footpath to 

 their labour. Early in the spring they notice that 

 the partridges have paired ; as time advances they see 

 the pair day after day in the same meadow, and mark 

 the spot. Those who work in the fields, again, 

 have still better opportunities : the bird-keeping 

 lads too have little else to do at that season than 

 watch for nests. In the meadows the labourer as he 

 walks to and fro with the ' bush ' passes over every 

 inch of the ground. The ' bush ' is a mass of thorn 

 bushes fixed in a frame and drawn by a horse ; it acts 

 like a light harrow, and leaves the meadow in strips 

 like the pile of green velvet, stroked in narrow bands, 

 one this way, one that, laying the grass blades in the 

 directions it travels. Solitary work of this kind— for 



