The Common Partridge 213 



following it till the brood is found. If it were not for 

 the clever habit the old partridges have of fluttering away 

 and decoying a fox from the youngsters, hardly a brood 

 would escape destruction ; but this device does not always 

 answer if the aggressor is a fox several seasons old who 

 has learned from experience. Keepers say that they 

 would sooner have a dozen youngsters to contend with 

 than one a year or two old, the cunning of the latter 

 enabling it to be exceedingly destructive. Hunting men 

 cry out for old foxes, but the game preserver for young 

 ones. 



A few seasons ago we watched a kestrel hawk stealing 

 young partridges from a brood a few days old, and any- 

 one who witnessed that sight would no longer proclaim 

 the innocence of the bird. From what we saw, we arrived 

 at an opinion that long grass is the best protection a 

 brood can have, as the chicks have sense enough to bury 

 themselves in it, and, strive how it may, the hawk cannot 

 disentangle a chick from among it. The hawk clutches 

 grass and all, cannot disengage its prey, and dare not 

 stay long because the old birds attack it. A peculiar fact 

 about the hawk is that, however heavy its burden, one 

 claw only is used to carry away the prey. The writer has 

 never seen a hawk employing both. 



Old partridges with broods are very careful to avoid 

 other partridges, evidently aware of each other's propen- 

 sity for stealing chicks, for there can be no other reason. 

 We have never seen two young broods in the vicinity 

 of each other, and, however many occupy a field, each lot 

 keeps to its own domain. Parent partridges are es- 

 pecially fearful of any barren pair which dares to venture 

 near their brood, and at once drive those birds away — at 

 least, the cock does so, assailing both male and female 

 of the barren pair, and following them up till their retreat 

 is assured. Keepers often wonder at the appearance of a 

 pair of partridges with but one or two youngsters, when 

 other adjacent coveys are large, and these are more 

 frequently a barren pair which has stolen a chick or two 

 than a pair which has lost nearly all its brood after 

 hatching. 



