144 THE PAETRIDGE 



grace and strength she at last admitted his 

 conquest. Later, the wan moonbeams shining 

 through the mist of night lingered on the two 

 little wildlings crouching together, head under 

 wing, asleep on the narrow path that Twm 

 had left unploughed between the furrows in the 

 middle of the cornfield. 



A few weeks of early springtide weather were 

 succeeded by gloom, and tempest, and bitter 

 frosts ; winter unexpectedly returned to mar 

 the work of the husbandman and blight the 

 hopes of the hedgerow songsters busy with their 

 nests. Following the custom of their kind the 

 partridge and his mate became members of a 

 " pack " that, under the guidance of an old and 

 experienced bird, frequented the southern slope 

 of a hill beyond the hamlet. In the pack were 

 half a dozen mated couples, and among the males 

 fighting was frequent ; but when the cold 

 weather passed away, and the pack broke up, 

 the relationship of each bird to its partner 

 seemed to have remained unchanged. The young 

 partridge from the plough-land in the valley 

 returned with his mate to his winter haunts ; 

 and presently, when the hen bird had grown 

 familiar with her new surroundings, the little 

 pair searched the hedgerow thickets for a nesting 

 place. 



The sparkling crystals of a late white frost 



