COMMON PARTRIDGE 
with their beaks and wings, in much the same fashion as the red grouse 
does. The battles are, however, seldom protracted or very serious in their 
results, for the weaker bird soon retires from the combat. It is a pleasing 
sight to watch the pairs of birds through a good glass as they move about 
the nearly bare fields of early wheat, the cocks frequently standing up to 
utter their well-known call, kir-r-rik as a challenge to rivals. In March 
the pairs select a suitable nesting-site and, having chosen it, settle down 
in the immediate neighbourhood. The partridge is, however, by no means 
an early breeder, and eggs are seldom laid before the end of April or the 
beginning of May; most of the eggs being hatched in the latter half of 
June. If the nest is destroyed after incubation has commenced, the part- 
ridge seldom nests a second time ; but if the hen bird has not begun to 
sit, a second and smaller clutch of from six to ten eggs is often laid. 
Nest . — Except in very rare instances, the nest is placed on the ground, 
and consists of a slight hollow lined with dry grasses and dead leaves. 
The site chosen varies very much, but perhaps the most favourite situation 
for a nest is the bottom of some dense hedgerow, amongst coarse grass 
and vegetation, in young plantations of spruce-fir and larch, amongst 
gorse -bushes and broom; often in growing corn, clover, and in grass - 
fields, or amongst heather. Sometimes an exposed situation close to a 
path is chosen, but the nest is generally so well hidden that it escapes 
detection. Nests are sometimes found in very curious places, the tops 
of haystacks, bean-stacks, and other situations at a height from the 
ground being occasionally resorted to. 
Eggs . — ^The eggs, which are of a pointed oval shape, and pale olive-brown 
colour, measure about 1*4 inch by 1*1 inch. They are usually from 
ten to twenty in number, and though as many as thirty -six have been 
found in one nest, they were no doubt laid by more than one hen. 
Incubation lasts from twenty -one to twenty -three days. 
General habits . — ^The female sits very closely on her eggs, and trusting, 
no doubt, to the protective coloration of her plumage, which harmonizes 
so well with her surroundings, frequently succeeds in avoiding detection. 
Like other game-birds the partridge, when sitting on her nest, gives forth 
no scent ; and this power of being voluntarily able to suppress her natural 
odour usually saves her from her many four-footed enemies. At the same 
time it should be mentioned that this retention of scent ceases when the 
eggs are on the point of hatching, and it is then that so many sitting 
birds are taken off their nests by foxes. 
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