A housing colony called Gokul Nagar had been established on the outskirts of Udaipur. A school in the colony owned a large piece of land, which was covered by some trees and bushes.

The area once had partridges in good numbers. As cement and bricks started piling up, all the partridges moved away except one pair, which took up its quarters in the school compound. Food was no problem for the birds as one of the inhabitants of the colony habitually scattered grains for them.

Adjacent to the school was an undeveloped piece of land and next to this plot was a house with a masonry boundary wall with thorns of Babool tree. On 3^rd March 1991, we observed a female partridge examining numerous gaps and holes in the wall. Finally she chose a hole in the wall, 1.05m from the ground and started building her nest. She first screened the hole with babul thorns and then impaled leaves of Jamun tree on them. She lined her nest with leaves of Jamun and Kaner trees.

On 13^th March we found eggs in the nest; the hen remained on the eggs all through the day and night expect for one hour. At about 4.45pm the male of the pair started calling. After about 15 minutes of calling (at 5pm), the female left the nest for foraging. Food being a plenty and water too being close by, she was back at the nest around 6pm. She kept up this routine till the eggs hatched.

On 2^nd April 1991, at about 10am, we noticed the hen with three chicks hiding in a bush on the vacant piece of land.

She was constantly trying to take the chicks into the safety of the school compound but the wall seemed to be too high for the chicks. A pariah dog spotted the hen and chicks and rushed towards them. We shooed the dog away and putting the chicks into a basket, lowered them into the school compound. Soon the chicks were escorted away by both the male and the female. Examining the nest we found that all the eggs had hatched but two chicks lay dead just below the nest. We failed to ascertain the cause of death.

Probably circumstances, especially predators like cats and dogs, forced this hen to build her nest above the ground and develop new means (thorns and leaves) to camouflage it as she did.

This shows how urbanisation has invaded the habitat of birds. They try their utmost to adjust in the new environs. They even change their breeding and nesting habits but it seems that their fate is sealed.

What would the world be, once bereft

Of wet and of wilderness? Let them be left,

O let them be left, wildness and wet;

Long live the weeds and wilderness yet.

– G. M. Hopkins

Published in Journal of Bombay Natural History Society:

Tehsin, R. & Moezi, A. A. (1993) An Unusual Nesting of a Grey Partridge (Francolinus pondicerianus, Gmelin). J.Bom.Nat.Hist.Soc. 90: 91 – 92