516 
plint's katue^l history. 
[Book X. 
CHAP. 51. THE MEPvOPS PAPTEIDGES. 
I"To less, too, is the shrewdness displayed by those birds which 
make their nests upon the ground, because, from the extreme 
weight of their body, they are unable to fly aloft. There is a 
bird, known as the ^'merops,''" which feeds its parents in 
their retreat : the colour of the plumage on the inside is pale, 
and azure without, while it is of a somewhat reddish hue at 
the extremity of the wings : this bird builds its nest in a hole 
which it digs to the depth of six feet. 
Partridges fortify their retreat so well with thorns and 
shrubs, that it is effectually protected against beasts of prey. 
They make a soft bed for their eggs by bmying them in the 
dust, but do not hatch them where they are laid : that no sus- 
picion may arise from the fact of their being seen repeatedly 
about the same spot, they carry them away to some other place. 
The females also conceal themselves from their mates, in order 
that they may not be delayed in the process of incubation, as 
the males, in consequence of the warmth of their passions, are 
apt to break the eggs. The males, thus deprived of the females, 
fall to fighting among themselves ; and it is said that the one 
that is conquered, is treated as a female by the other. Trogus 
Pompeius tells us that quails and dunghill cocks sometimes do 
the same ; and adds, that wild partridges, when newly caught, 
or when beaten by the others, are trodden promiscuously by 
the tame ones. Through the very pugnacity thus inspired by 
the strength of their passions, these birds are often taken, as 
the leader of the whole covey frequently advances to fight with 
the decoy-bird of the fowler ; as soon as he is taken, another and 
then another will advance, all of which are caught in their 
turn. The females, again, are caught about the pairing season ; 
for then they will come forward to quarrel with the female 
decoy-bird of the fowler, and so drive her away. Indeed, in 
no other animal is there any such susceptibility in the sexual 
feelings ; if the female only stands opposite to the male, while 
the wind is blowing from that direction, she^^ will become im- 
pregnated; and during this time she is in a state of the 
^1 The Merops apiaster of Linnaeus, or bee- eater. 
52 Cuvier says that the red partridge, the Tetrao rufus of Linnaeus, is 
meant. 
53 The same wonderful story is told by Aristotle, Hist. Anim, B, v. c. 5, 
and by iElian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 15. 
