THE PARTRIDGE 209 



by small game-hens game-fowl kept specially for that 

 purpose from the eggs that have been taken from the 

 outlying nests." Or, as we have shown, from the de- 

 stroyed or partially destroyed nests. " Other strains 

 of the domestic fowl are used, but the game-hens are 

 the favourite foster-parents. When the birds are fed 

 with the eggs, as many of the ants as it is possible to 

 get rid of are kept out ; but some are sure to be mixed 

 up with the eggs, and these fix on the birds, making 

 them jump off the ground. The common emmets, the 

 creatures that the wild birds feed on their young 

 broods particularly are harmless, but the large wood 

 ants are not." 



But it is strongly to be recommended that the chicks 

 which have been placed under the care of the game- 

 hen should be transferred as soon as possible to a brood 

 of partridges of much the same age as the chicks. 

 Artificial rearing and feeding presents many difficulties 

 and risks, and there is no difficulty in the way of a 

 parent partridge receiving the little strangers into her 

 home, granted that the domestic hearth is not already 

 too crowded. 



For the guidance of the keeper it might be useful 

 here to summarise the circumstances under which he is 

 entitled to lift eggs and transfer them to the game-fowl : 



(1) In those cases where a nest has been disturbed 

 by a dog or a casual intruder, and there is a reasonable 

 fear that the parent partridge may desert its nest. 



(2) Where the parent birds have been killed or 



