Practical Game-Preserving. 136 



is in full swing. A good deal of disagreement and 

 fighting amongst the males characterises the pairing of 

 partridges, whose mating is, however, somewhat fickle, 

 depending for the comparatively long continuance until 

 the nesting-season, upon incidences of weather. In this 

 way pairs may be broken up more than once before then, 

 and mating have to be renewed. A great deal of the 

 success attending partridge-preserving depends upon these 

 matters, which have in the not very remote past been mis- 

 stated or misunderstood. I shall, however, deal with 

 these points presently, as they do not occur in seasons of 

 fairly normal description with sufficient force and in such 

 universal manner as to affect the ordinary natural history 

 of the bird which is at present being dealt with. Of 

 course, under nearly all conditions the mating is later in 

 the rougher, less protected parts, the nesting season being 

 correspondingly less early. 



Partridges, unlike pheasants, are strictly monogamous, 

 the hen forming the nest and incubating under close atten- 

 tion by the male. The nest-making is a by no means 

 lengthy or elaborate proceeding, the chief cause of anxiety 

 seeming to be the choice of site, and the birds will often 

 search for weeks before selecting one possessing all the 

 necessary qualifications. The nest itself is a very simple 

 affair, and consists of a plain hollow scratched and formed 

 under some shelter. It is adorned with a certain amount 

 of lining, which may consist of dead leaves and grass, bits 

 of fern and straw or the like. The site chosen varies 

 considerably, but always exhibits certain characteristics. 

 When situated in grass, clover, or corn-fields, it is invari- 

 ably beneath some specially thick tuft of growth, and at 

 a spot slightly elevated above the surrounding parts. It 

 may be at the foot of a tree, or a bush, or a post, in the 

 rough weedy growth in the angles of the field, or beneath 



