COMMON PARTRIDGE. 455 



or twenty in number, but sometimes many more are discovered ; as many 

 as thirty-three have been known, but it is very probable that these large 

 clutches are the produce of more than one female. The eggs are pale 

 olive-brown without markings, and resemble very closely those of the 

 Pheasant, but are much smaller; they vary in length from 1'5 to 1*32 

 inch, and in breadth from T15 to 1'05 inch. White and pale bluish- 

 green varieties are sometimes found. The shell is smooth aniT possesses 

 considerable gloss. The female Partridge is a very close sitter and is most 

 devotedly attached to her eggs, occasionally allowing herself to be stroked 

 by the hand on the nest ; and she has even been known to remove her eggs 

 to safer quarters when they have been menaced by danger. The male bird is 

 very attentive to his mate, and keeps guard in the vicinity of the nest, 

 driving off all intruders of his own species from his particular domain. 

 As soon as the young are hatched they are tended by both parents, who 

 not only practise many alluring arts for the safety of their brood, but even 

 attack large predatory birds who menace them. It is very doubtful whether 

 the Partridge will lay a second time if her first clutch be destroyed. A 

 brood of young Partridge chicks and their parents are always interesting 

 to watch : the old birds lead them about and find food for them, and the 

 little creatures keep uttering their whistling notes ; the female often 

 gathers them under her wings like a domestic hen does her brood. 



In the autumn the Partridge becomes a very social bird : covey joins 

 covey, and if not molested these packs keep in company, feeding and 

 roosting together. At this season the Partridge delights to "jug " in the 

 grass-fields, repairing to the turnips and the stubbles to feed. 



The Partridge is not a migratory bird, and though some ornithologists 

 have suspected that its numbers have been increased on several occasions 

 by immigrations on the east of England, there is no reason to believe 

 that the bird ever comes over from the continent. Partridges have often 

 been known to fly for some considerable distance out to sea, especially if 

 shot at near the coast, returning to land in an exhausted condition. In 

 winter, when the weather is severe and the snow is deep, the Partridge 

 often visits the stackyards to pick up a meal, or frequents the banks of 

 running streams to feed upon the tender grass-shoots, and readily takes 

 any grain that may be scattered by the gamekeeper to tide it over an 

 unusual spell of severe weather. 



The Partridge is easily kept in confinement, but very seldom breeds in 

 captivity; numbers of young birds are, however, reared under hens every 

 year and turned out like Pheasants. Hybrids between the Common 

 Partridge and the Red-legged Partridge are sometimes met with. 



The male Partridge has the forehead, the sides of the head, the chin, 

 upper throat, and the tail-feathers, except the two centre ones, chestnut. 

 The crown and nape are brown, streaked with buff; the general colour of 



