THE BROODY HEN 75 



He is in no hurry to give her live eggs. He waits 

 until she is well settled after the move, and has had 

 time to round up the nest to her liking. At first 

 she may be inclined to stand, or at least not to go 

 down properly ; but after a little while she will be 

 found spread out in the proper fashion of the hen 

 who intends to hatch eggs at all costs, and she will 

 complain loudly, and peck fiercely if touched. And 

 then she is entrusted with the precious eggs. 



Once a day the keeper gently lifts each broody 

 hen off the nest to feed, tethering her by a string 

 tied to her leg or shutting her into a coop. On the 

 first day she is taken from the eggs only for ten 

 minutes ; but her time off is gradually increased, as 

 the eggs require more oxygen, to half an hour during 

 the second week of sitting, and then to three-quarters 

 of an hour or longer towards the end of the third 

 week, if the weather proves genial. Plenty of air is 

 good for the chicks in the eggs, especially during the 

 last days of the hatching. A hen was accidentally 

 kept from her eggs for a whole afternoon on the 

 day before they were due to hatch ; yet all the thirteen 

 eggs hatched out, and stronger chicks were never seen. 



The red-legged partridge begins to nest quite a 

 week earlier than the English birds. The keeper 

 expects to find his first partridge's egg about 

 April 25 : and probably it will be a Frenchman's. 



