Early in the spring they notice that the partridges have paired: as time advances they see the pair day after day in the same meadow, and mark the spot.

Those who work in the fields, again, have still better opportunities: the bird-keeping lads too have little else to do at that season than watch for nests.

In the meadows the labourer as he walks to and fro with the 'bush' passes over every inch of the ground.

The 'bush' is a mass of thorn bushes fixed in a frame and drawn by a horse; it acts like a light harrow, and leaves the meadow in strips like the pile of green velvet, stroked in narrow bands, one this way, one that, laying the grass blades in the directions it travels.

Solitary work of this kind--for it requires but one man--is very favourable to observation.
When the proper time arrives the searcher knows within a little where the nest must be, and has but a small space to beat.
The pheasant being so large a bird, its motions are easy to watch; and the nest is speedily found, because, being in the hedge or under bushes, there is a definite place in which to look, instead of the broad surface of the field.