3^5 



PARTRIDGE MOTHERHOOD. 



Kev. J. CONWAY WALTER, 

 Hoi-itcastlr. 



In a meadow adjoining- Roug;hton Hall, near Horncastle, Lin- 

 colnshire, a Partridg^e this season made her nest in a slig^ht 

 depression of the surface. The meadow was presently mown, 

 one of the mowers passings his scythe over without injuring- her, 

 and unaware of her presence, the depression still having; g-rass 

 enoug-h to hide the nest. The field was afterwards 'fedded,' 

 i.e., the hay was tossed about by a machine, which ag^ain passed 

 over the bird, leaving- her still unscathed and unmoved. Next 

 the field was horse-raked, the rake passing- over the nest with 

 the same result. iVfter this one of the haymakers accidentally 

 nearly put his foot into the nest. This drove her off". The 

 .squire happened to be near and saw her fly away. He imme- 

 diately went to the spot and found the nest, with the unusual 

 number of 19 eg-g-s. He removed all the hay some distance 

 away to prevent her being- again disturbed. He then watched, 

 and within a quarter of an hour he saw her quietly return to the 

 nest. About ten days afterwards she brought off" 17 young- out 

 of the 19 eg-gs, two addled eg-g-s remaining- in the nest. Of course 

 as the hatching- time draws near, a bird, feeling- the young- lives 

 beneath her, will sit very close ; but surely this persistence in 

 sitting-, some ten days before hatching-, and after no less than 

 four trying- ordeals, was a remarkable instance of fidelity to 

 n-iaternal instinct. 



[The late E. T. Booth in his 'Rough Notes on Shooting-' 

 mentions an instance of a Ptarmig-an sitting- so close as 

 to allow a luncheon party to partake of a meal within arm's 

 leng-th, and the bird only rose off" its nest when a strap, 

 being- adjusted to a pony's harness, fell on its back. — Eds.] 



FLOWERING PLANTS. 

 Plants near Caistor, Lincolnshire. — Among the 180 plants 

 noted at the Caistor and Pelham Woods meeting of the Lin- 

 colnshire Naturalists' Union, on 28th August 1902, were the 

 following : — Papaver hybridum, Sagina procmnbens, Geranium, 

 pyrenaicnm (Nettleton), Filago spathulnta, Artemisia vulgaris 

 (and at Barnetby), Cnicus se/osns, Origanum vulgare, Siegliugia 

 decumbens, Asplenium ruta-muraria, and Chara hispida, Gera- 

 nium, pratense (Croxby churchyard). — E. Adrian Woodruffs 

 Peacock, Cadney, Brigg. 



1903 September i. 



