70 LEWIS'S AMEKICAN SPORTSMAN. 



in the English variety, that it is no uncommon thing for the 

 owners of some choice preserves to have the partridges on their 

 manors netted, soon after the pairing season, and to destroy the 

 surplus males, or old bachelors, as they are facetiously termed. 

 This precaution prevents those strifes, and at the same time in- 

 sures a larger produce of young birds ; for, if the female be pur- 

 sued by several cocks during the period of incubation, she has no 

 opportunity to form a nest, but drops her eggs about in various 

 places, no two, perhaps, together. Partridges generally complete 

 their nests in five or six weeks after pairing. A small tuft of 

 grass, sheltered by a bush or a tree, the corner of a w T orm fence, 

 or the foot of an old stump, are the spots usually selected for the 

 building of their nests, which are composed of leaves, dry grass, 

 and a few feathers plucked from her ow r n person. The little 

 habitation is rudely but often ingeniously constructed ; and, being 

 so nicely concealed from observation, it not unfrequently bids 

 defiance to the searching glances of the most inquisitive eye, as 

 well as affording ample protection on every side from the incle- 

 mency of the weather. The eggs are white, and average from 

 fifteen to twenty in number, and, in some rare instances, greatly 

 exceed that quantity. If the birds be in their prime, and thfc 

 season very favorable, it is not improbable that the hen may 

 deposit tw^enty-five or even thirty eggs ; but such cases are anoma- 

 lies; and we should be more disposed to attribute the unusual 

 increase of eggs to an occasional propensity that some birds have 

 of laying in each other's nests. Mr. Daniel, speaking of the 

 amazing fecundity of the English partridge, which is closely allied 

 to our species, states that a nest was discovered with thirty-three 

 eggs in it, another with twenty-eight, and another with thirty- 

 three. The greatest number we have ever seen in the nest of the 

 American bird is twenty-four; but we have often been told by 

 farm hands that twenty-five is no unusual number. For the truth 

 of these vague assertions we cannot, however, vouch. The period 

 of incubation is about twenty-one days. Some contend for a longer 

 period; but we believe the former statement the more correct, 



