Faithful Parents It is a commonplace that the partridge, male_
or female is an ideal parent, and it is as faithful to its eggs as to its chicks. female, other day a neighbour's dog brought to his master a live partridge which he had caught as it brooded its large clutch. He took the bird from the dog's mouth, found it undamaged and released it. The bird must have returned immediately to the nest and eventually hatched out fifteen eggs. Some writers have contrasted the parental instincts of partridge and pheasant ; but I think the pheasant is maligned. I knew of one hen who was severely wounded by the point of a scythe as she sat. The mower left just a small patch of grass round the nest and continued to mow the rest. The wounded bird duly returned, in spite of her wound and the change, of scenery, and hatched off successfully. A neighbouring keeper has seen a cock pheasant brooding eggs, but that must be a rare occurrence, if only because, unlike the partridge, the species is polygamous.
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