186 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST. 



of our railways ; and how soon they have acquired the 

 knowledge that to them they threaten no danger ! I 

 have seen partridges feeding in a field within ten yards 

 of a railway, and taking not the slightest notice of a 

 rapidly- passing train ; and a little further on a common 

 peewit was equally unconcerned. I once counted sixteen 

 martins sitting on the telegraph wires at the Hitchin 

 station of the Great Northern Railway ; they not only 

 manifested no alarm, but seemed actually to derive plea- 

 sure from the trains passing to and fro. Even the 

 whistle of the engine failed to startle them. I have also 

 known several instances of the house-sparrow building 

 its nest in the ornamental iron brackets supporting the 

 projecting roofs of some of the stations on the Liverpool 

 and Manchester railway, where the traffic is almost con- 

 stant, and where every train passes within four or five feet 

 of the brackets. With the pert and familiar sparrow this 

 is not so surprising, but with the others I have named, 

 who are naturally timid, it offers a point of interesting 

 consideration. 



The Red-legged Partridge (P. rubra) has occurred 

 in one or two instances with us, but they were mere 

 stragglers. 



The Quail (P. coturnix) is occasionally met with, but 

 it is seldom that more than one bird occurs at a time. 

 A friend of mine shot two in one day in 1848, in a field 

 on the banks of the Maun, about seven miles from 

 Ollerton. I cannot call this species a constant resident. 



