172 On the Occurrence of some of the Rarer Species of Birds 



many " Brace of Birds." I am bold to say that this homely little 

 bird attracts more notice, and affords a more general topic of conver- 

 sation, year by year, than any other bird, I was going to say, almost 

 any other thing > in our islands. There is no need to speak at any 

 length of it, as every lover of Nature has his own store of anecdotes 

 and bird-lore connected with it, yet I cannot pass over my old 

 friend altogether without a recognition. This bird is not always 

 very careful as to the situation it selects for its nest; oftentimes 

 choosing a place where there is very little probability of its ever 

 hatching out its young in safety. An instance of this I cannot 

 help recording. I was once playing in a village cricket match in 

 the field just in front of the vicarage. Through this field a footpath 

 runs : and on this occasion it lay between the wickets and the post 

 usually called " Point/' which was not more than two or three yards 

 from the pathway. We had not been playing long when the at- 

 tention of the fieldsman at "Point''' was attracted to a tuft of 

 rather thicker and darker herbage than the rest (our village grounds, 

 dear reader, are not, as a rule, quite equal to " Lords 33 or " The 

 Oval"), and, on stooping down to examine it more closely, he ex- 

 claimed, " Why, here's a Partridge's nest with seven eggs." This 

 was latish in the summer, and yet there that nest had remained 

 undiscovered to that very moment, although then, of course, for a 

 long time deserted. No passer by had ever seen it, and it was close 

 by the Church path, constantly used. The mowers had mown over 

 it without noticing it; the haymakers had made hay over it, and 

 yet had neither seen nor trodden upon it ; and, more curious still, no 

 prying Jackdaw or Rook had found it out, or plundered it; and it 

 was reserved for my friend to discover it in this most unique way — 

 a way in which I much doubt whether Partridge's nest was ever 

 found before — i.e., by a fieldsman at " Point " in the midst of a 

 cricket match. 



But though not always over careful about the situation of its 

 nest, this bird is a very close sitter, and will defend its eggs and 

 young to the last. Over and over again is the sitting bird killed 

 by the mowers in the long grass ; whereas, if it is near hatching, 

 it has often been known to remove its eggs, to the nearest hedge, or 



