GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 211 



places, or bask under hedgerows. In the evening their sharp shrill call-note is heard as they 

 collect together to roost on the ground. The coveys, which assemble in the latter part of the autumn, 

 and keep together during the winter, separate again early in the spring, when pairing-time begins. 



The nest is merely a slight hollow in the ground, lined with a few dried leaves, or bits of grass 

 scraped together ; it is usually placed beneath a tuft of grass, among standing corn, or even by the 

 road-side. 



The eggs are from twelve to twenty, and of a greenish brown tint ; occasionally, a greater 

 number are found, but these are not supposed to be the produce of one bird. The female alone 

 broods, guarding her nest with zealous an.\iety, but her partner is also on the watch, lest danger 

 should approach. 



The following instance of the care of the Partridge for her eggs is related by Mr. Jesse : — 

 " A gentleman living near Spilsby, in Lincolnshire, who was one day riding over his farm super- 

 intending his men as they ploughed a piece of fallow land, saw a Partridge glide off her nest so near 

 the foot of one of his plough-horses that he thought the eggs must have been crushed : this, however, 

 was not the case ; but he found that the old bird was on the point of hatching, as several of the eggs 

 were beginning to chip. He observed the old bird return to her nest the instant that he left tlie 

 spot. It was evident that the next round of the plough must bury the nest and eggs in the furrow. 

 His surprise was great, when returning with the plough, he came to the spot and saw the nest indeed, 

 but the eggs and bird were gone. An idea struck him that she had removed her eggs, and he found 

 her before he left the field sitting under the hedge upon twenty-one eggs. The round of ploughing 

 had occupied about twenty minutes, and in this short time she, assisted by the cock bird, had removed 

 the twenty-one eggs to a distance of about forty yards." 



Another interesting anecdote is thus related by Mr. Murkwick : — " As I was hunting with an 

 old pointer the dog came upon a brood of very small Partridges, the old bird cried, fluttered, and 

 ran tumbling along, just before the dog's nose, till she had drawn him to a considerable distance, 

 when she took wing and flew still further off, but not out of the field ; on this the dog returned 

 to me near the place where the young ones lay concealed in the grass. This the bird no sooner 

 perceived than she flew back again to us, settled before the dog's nose again, and by rolling and 

 tumbling about drew off his attention from her young and thus preserved her brood a second time. 

 I have also seen," continues the same writer, " when a Kite has been hovering over a covey of 

 young Partridges, the old birds fly up at the bird of prey, screaming and fighting with all their 

 might to preserve their brood." 



Of the same daring spirit Mr. Selby gives the foUonnng remarkable instance ; — " A person 

 engaged in a field not far from his residence, had his attention arrested by some objects on the 

 ground, which upon approaching he found to be two Partridges, a male and female, engaged in battle 

 with a Carrion Crow ; so successful and so absorbed were they in the issue of the contest, that they 

 actually held the Crow till it was seized and taken from them by the spectator of the scene. Upon 

 search, the young birds (very lately hatched) were found concealed in the grass. It would appear 

 that the Crow (a mortal enemy to all kinds of young game), in attempting to carry off one of these, 

 had been attacked by the parent birds, with the above singular result." 



The eggs of Partridges are frequently hatched under a Domestic Hen, and the young reared on 

 ants' eggs, curds, and grits, with a little green food, when old enough they should be fed with grain. 

 They are easily tamed, though it is said they never wholly forget their wild origin, An account is 

 given by Daniell of one of these birds that became an inmate of a clergyman's house, which long 

 after its full growth entered the parlour at breakfast and other times, received food from any hand, 

 and stretched itself before the fire, the warmth of which it seemed to enjoy. 



