. Cassell's book of birds . eds to build her nest; this is placed on the ground, close to a tuft of grass, and partly sunk in GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 217 tlie earth : it is formed of leaves and fine dry grass, is of a circular form, and covered above, with anopening at the side. The eggs are of a pure white, and rather sharp at the smaller end. Bothparents assist in hatching the eggs. When the young are freed from the shell they leave the nest,and are led in search of food by their mother, who shelters them with most assiduous care. Ifdanger threatens, she throws herself across the path of the int
. Cassell's book of birds . eds to build her nest; this is placed on the ground, close to a tuft of grass, and partly sunk in GALLINACEOUS BIRDS. 217 tlie earth : it is formed of leaves and fine dry grass, is of a circular form, and covered above, with anopening at the side. The eggs are of a pure white, and rather sharp at the smaller end. Bothparents assist in hatching the eggs. When the young are freed from the shell they leave the nest,and are led in search of food by their mother, who shelters them with most assiduous care. Ifdanger threatens, she throws herself across the path of the intruder, beating the ground with herwings as if severely wounded, and uttering notes of alarm to decoy the stranger into pursuit of herself,and give warning to her young to conceal themselves in the high grass till the danger is past, when,having allured her pursuer to a distance, she returns, and leads them safe home. The AmericanPartridge usually rears only one brood in the year, but should this be destroyed she immediately. THE VIRGINIAN PARTRIDGE [Ortyx Iirgiriiamil). ONE-HALF NATURAL SIZE. prepares another nest, and even should mischance befall this also, a third batch of eggs is laid. ThisPartridge has been occasionally employed to hatch the eggs of the Domestic Hen. A friend of mine, says Wilson, informs me, that of several hens eggs, which he substitutedfor those of the Partridge, she brought out the whole ; and that for several weeks he occasionallysurprised her in various parts of the plantations, with her broods of chickens, on which occasions sheexhibited much alarm, and practised her usual manoeuvres for their preservation. Even after theywere considerably grown and larger than the Partridge herself, she continued to lead them about; butthough their notes or call were those of common chickens, their manners had all the shyness,timidity, and alarm of young Partridges : they ran with great rapidity, and squatted in the grassexactly after the manner of the Partridge. So
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbreh, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds
