312 
PERDIX VIRGINIANA. 
lay occasionally in each other’s nests. Though I have 
never myself seen a case of this kind, I do not think it 
altogether improbable, from the fact, that they have 
often been known to drop their eggs in the nest of the 
common hen, when that happened to be in the fields, 
or at a small distance from the house. The two 
partridges above mentioned were raised in this manner ; 
and it was particularly remarked by the lady who gave 
me the information, that the hen sat for several days 
after her own eggs were hatched, until the young 
quails made their appearance. 
The partridge, on her part, has sometimes been 
employed to hatch the eggs of the common domestic 
hen. A friend of mine, who himself made the experi- 
ment, informs me, that, of several hen’s eggs which he 
substituted in place of those of the partridge, she brought 
out the whole ; and that, for several weeks, he occasion- 
ally surprised her, in various parts of the plantation, 
with her brood of chickens ; on which occasions she 
exhibited all that distressful alarm, and practised her 
usual manoeuvres for their preservation. Even after 
they were considerably grown, and larger than the 
partridge herself, she continued to lead them about; 
but, though their notes or call were those of common 
chickens, their manners had all the shyness, timidity, 
and alarm of young partridges ; running with great 
rapidity, and squatting in the grass exactly in the 
manner of the partridge. Soon after this, they disap- 
peared, having probably been destroyed by dogs, by the 
gun, or by birds of prey. Whether the domestic fowl 
might not by this method be very soon brought back 
to its original savage state, and thereby supply another 
additional subject for the amusement of the sportsman, 
will scarcely admit of a doubt. But the experiment, in 
order to secure its success, would require to be made 
in a quarter of the country less exposed than ours to 
the ravages of guns, traps, dogs, and the deep snows of 
winter, that the new tribe might have full time to 
become completely naturalized, and well fixed in all 
their native habits. 
