THE PARTRIDGE, 69 



This precaution prevents those strifes, and at the same time 

 insures a larger produce of young Birds; for, if the female be 

 pursued 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 

 worm 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 own 

 person. The little habitation is rudely, but often ingeniously 

 constructed ; and, being so well 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 inclemency 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 the season very favorable, it is not im- 

 probable that the female may deposit twenty-five or even thirty 

 eggs, but such cases are anomalies; and we should be more 

 disposed to attribute the unusual increase of eggs to an occa- 

 sional 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 tolcl 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, 

 although, in proof of the latter assertion, it has been argued 

 that it requires four weeks to hatch the eggs when placed under 

 a common Hen, This, however, proves nothing, as the disparity 

 in the time may be accounted for by the circumstance of the 

 Partridge setting much closer than the domestic fowl, and, con- 

 sequently, generating a larger amount, if not a higher degree, 

 of animal heat. 



