Birds of the Field 



has to collect the eggs and hatch them under a 

 fowl. The Partridge, however, shows strongly 

 developed parental instincts, and I was fortunate 

 enough to witness a charming example of it not 

 long ago. Getting over a stile at a corner of a 

 field I flushed a large covey of some two dozen birds 

 the amalgamation of two families. The young 

 were not strong fliers and, as if by some pre- 

 arranged plan, one parent bird wheeled off with 

 all the young over a hedge, while the other three 

 dropped down in front of me as if shot, and, 

 feigning disablement, fluttered along before me the 

 whole length of the field. It is said that the 

 French Species or Redlegged Partridge is teaching 

 our English bird bad habits as regards running, 

 when it ought, from the gunner's point of view, 

 to rise. However this may be, it has a fairly 

 near relative that trusts to its legs rather than its 

 wings for everything save migration. Indeed, it 

 is a source of wonder how the Corncrake can 

 sustain such a prolonged flight as it is then 

 forced to take. So skulking are its habits that 

 many, to whom its craking voice is familiar 

 enough, have very hazy notions of the bird itself. 

 Head, neck, back and tail are reddish-brown 

 streaked longitudinally with dusky black. The 

 underparts are pale yellowish brown or light buff- 

 barred at the sides with two shades of reddish 

 brown. 



The nest, whether placed in a field of long 



43 



