454 BillTISH BIRDS. 



this fare is varied by insects, beetles, and grubs, on which it chiefly lives 

 in the summer, and when the young are hatched the parent birds lead 

 them to the ant-hills to feed on the larvae. In autumn the stubbles are 

 visited for the sake of grain of all kinds, from wheat to beans ; and tlie 

 tender shoots of the clover, blackberries growing in the hedges, and small 

 seeds of all kinds are greedily devoured. The Partridge usually retires to 

 rest at dusk, generally choosing some bare place in the open fields, where, 

 after the young can fly, the whole party arrange themselves in a small circle, 

 with their heads outwards. Should danger then approach, no matter from 

 what direction, it is detected, the alarm-note sounds, and the birds either 

 crouch low and motionless, or separate and fly quickly ofl', not to unite 

 again until daylight. In spite of all this vigilance, however, the rat and 

 the weasel often thin its ranks. 



The Partridge pairs early in the year ; late in February or early in March 

 the coveys break up ; the old cock quietly leaves the flock with his mate, 

 to whom he remains faithful as long as the lives of both are spared by the 

 sportsman ; and the birds of the year pair, not without an occasional fight, 

 for the males are said to exceed the females in number. 



The note of the Partridge is a very peculiar one ; clear, loud, and pitched 

 very high, it can be heard at a great distance, and it is constantly uttered, 

 principally in the morning and evening, and most persistently during the 

 pairing-season. It resembles the word kir-r-rik, the latter syllable some- 

 times repeated many times rapidly, especially if the bird be flying away 

 alarmed. This note is common to both sexes. 



The Partridge appears to be strictly monogamous ; but though the coveys 

 break up early, it is by no means an early breeder. The poor bird has so 

 many enemies, that it seldom happens that a pair enjoy each other's society 

 for many seasons in succession, and April is generally over before the 

 successful males are in secure and undisputed possession of the females. 

 It is not often that eggs are found even in the south of England before 

 May; and in Scotland, MacgiUivray says that they are seldom found 

 before June. In England most eggs are laid during May, and the great 

 hatching-time is the latter half of June. The Partridge seeks a site 

 for her nest in some dense hedge-bottom, in the ditches where the 

 tangled vegetation is the densest, or amongst the growing corn or clover 

 or under a gorse bush, and not unfrequently in the most exposed situations 

 on the roadside or near a path, where, curiously enough, it very often escapes 

 discovery. The Partridge nests on the ground ; but Dixon has known it 

 to bring off its young in safety from a hole in the thatch of a bean-stack 

 twelve feet from the ground, and other instances quite as eccentric are on 

 record. The nest is a very slight structure, and consists of a few dry 

 grasses and dead leaves, or other vegetable substances, scratched together in 

 a slovenly manner. The eggs of the Partridge are usually from ten to fifteen 



