THE PARTRIDGE 207 



After any rainstorm, or during it, if necessary, the 

 keepers should be out and making observations as to 

 the safety of their nests and small coveys. Some arti- 

 ficial help is often necessary to protect the eggs from 

 destruction, and a wise keeper will often discern a chance 

 to interfere for the benefit of his broods, although it 

 must be remembered that human interference is soon 

 detected by ground vermin, especially stoats, and the 

 future safety of the eggs may be in peril. " If a sad 

 mishap," says Mr. Macpherson, "has befallen a clutch 

 of eggs, and some of the number have actually come 

 to grief, the misfortune can best be redeemed by such 

 eggs as happen to have escaped destruction being 

 placed under the charge of a domestic fowl. When 

 the little fellows emerge into the world, they soon learn 

 to take care of themselves, but the pupae of ants are 

 requisite for their successful rearing." For it is notori- 

 ous that the hen bird hesitates to return to her duties 

 if her nest has been partially destroyed or interfered 

 with. That distinguished observer, "A Son of the 

 Marshes," indicates in the Pall Mall Magazine * the 

 methods of procuring the pupae. " Two very different 

 kinds of ant-hills supply the eggs or ant-pupae to the 

 young of game birds, and of partridges in particular. 

 First, there are the common emmet-heaps or ant-hills, 

 which are scattered all over the land ; go where you will, 

 you will find them. These the birds scratch and break 

 up, picking out the eggs as they fall from the light 



1 Pall Mall Magazine ', 1893, p. 737. 



