LOVE AND COURTSHIP 31 
brooding partridge. Happily the loss of scent which 
characterises sitting hens saves them from many of 
their enemies. This is specially true of such birds as 
choose to nest in close proximity to a well-used foot- 
path, or beside the stacks in a farmyard. The hen 
partridge squats very closely to her eggs when in- 
cubation has once begun, so closely, indeed, that 
dogs often pass close to her without detecting her 
presence. 
One partridge, whose nest was discovered by a 
friend of ours, strangely enough made her home close , 
to a highroad, and in immediate proximity to a stone- 
heap. This was all the more singular because the 
task of stone-breaking was carried on day after day, 
while the partridge sat on unflinchingly upon her 
treasures. She might easily have found a snug re- 
treat under a neighbouring hedge in thick cover ; 
actually, she preferred the more dangerous spot, and 
her pluck was rewarded. Unlikely as it seemed that 
she would rear a brood, this bird brought eighteen 
chicks safely out of the egg. A bird that nested within 
fifteen inches of a public footpath which traversed a 
common on the skirts of one of our large towns was 
less fortunate. This was due, however, to an accident 
which her vigilance was powerless to anticipate— 
indeed, her acuteness hastened the mistake. It was 
