NOTES. 



399 



a vessel of water being placed in the cage,, one of the young birds 

 instantly flew to it, and bathed himself profusely. This was certainly 

 done from natural instinct : for he had never seen such a thing before, 

 nor did any of his new companions now set him the example. But, 

 like Virgil's bees, in pursuance of another natural instinct, 



" Which strike, and leave their lives within the wound," 



I apprehend that our poor greenbird would have fallen a victim to his 

 temerity, if care had not been taken to withdraw him from his bath, 

 and to dry and warm him in the sun. 



A friend of mine in this neighbourhood was less successful in rearing 

 a brood of young partridges about the same time, which came into his 

 possession in a remarkable manner. The whole history of the case is 

 so curious, that, being desirous of reporting it to you with the greatest 

 accuracy, I requested him to inform me of all the particulars, and shall 

 proceed to transcribe his narrative. " I grieve," he says, " that the 

 knowledge I possess, relative to hatching a brood of partridge eggs, is 

 so unsatisfactory, that it is not worth your notice : however, you shall 

 have the facts as they occurred. 



" When mowing a meadow, the men disturbed a partridge on her 

 nest, and the creature sat so long, that her head had nearly been 

 severed from the body. She escaped and flew away. Twelve eggs 

 were in the nest. This happened before breakfast on a Friday 

 morning. A patch of grass was left adjoining the nest ; and next 

 morning the two birds were seen near the nest; but on feeling the 

 eggs, we thought from their coldness, that the mother had not re- 

 sumed her care. The eggs remained uncovered till about six or seven 



o'clock in the evening, when Mrs. had them brought to the 



house. We put them into a small tin pan and covered them with tow, 

 and the whole was put into a slow oven. Our cook took much interest 

 in the work ; and on referring to her, she says, the pan was only in the 

 oven, when very cool, but generally was kept on the top of it. The 

 oven is a perpetual one, placed, or rather built in the fire-place, heated 

 by a flue, which conveys the heated air of the fire round it ; and on the 

 top is a course of thick plaster to prevent the escape of heat. On this 

 course the pan was placed. The temperature of that place, as now 

 ascertained, is about 88° of Fahrenheit : but it varies according to the 

 cook's operations, the minimum being about 75°, the maximum 90°. 

 Unfortunately we did not keep notes, so that what I write is from the 

 collected opinion of the house. 



