84 



KEARTONS' NATURE PICTURES 



A STORM-DRIVEN PARTRIDGE. 



appears to display a special liking 

 for nesting in what would, at first 

 sight, seem to be dangerous places 

 but, thanks to a curious provision of 

 Nature, is seldom discovered or molested. 

 The scent thrown off her body during 

 the usual course of her life is sup- 

 pressed to a great extent throughout the 



critical period of incubation, thus 

 saving her from a very potent source 

 of danger. 



The olive brown eggs number from 

 ten to sixteen or twenty, and occasion- 

 ally even as many as thirty may be 

 met with in the same structure. The 

 last number, however, is undoubtedly 

 the result of two hens laying in the 

 same nest. There is nothing very won- 

 derful in these instances of co-opera- 

 tive housekeeping, for on two occasions 

 I have known the Common Partridge 

 and the French or Red-Legged species 

 not only to lay in the same nest, but 

 to sit side by side, in perfect harmony 

 and goodwill, upon the mixed clutches 

 of eggs. 



Both the male and female brood the 

 chicks after they have been hatched, 

 and show great affection for them. 



