Grey Partridge ¥f 



They never return to tlieir nests. At night, they sleep out in 

 the fields, each parent taking about half the chicks and " broodling" 

 them, until the first of the da>-light sees them start off on their 

 rounds again. 



In bad weather or cold weather, they seek the shelter of some 

 friendly bank or fence, but never, I think, anywhere very close to the 

 site of their nesting place. If a \ery heavy thunderstorm overtake 

 them in the daytime in the open, and they find that it is imjx)ssib]e 

 to shepherd their chicks back to shelter in time, both parents will 

 squat, call all their chicks in and " broodle " them till the storm is 

 past. The parental instinct is extraordinarily strongly developed, 

 in the male quite as strongly' as in the female. When any danger 

 —a dog, or hurhan being, "or what not, is suddenly sprung upon 

 them, they utter a warning cry, and the chicks, like well-drilled 

 supers, squat fiat upon the ground, as if they were trying to squeeze 

 themselves into the very earth itself, with nothing to show the 

 presence of life but their little black, beady eyes. As long as the 

 danger remains imminent, the parents keep up an incessant chuck- 

 chucking, and the chicks remain absolutely still and motionless. 



This instinct in itself is very curious, for it is evidently inborn. 

 A chick that is only two or three hours old will " squat " at the 

 warning cry, with the same celerity and certainty as a chick of 

 three or four weeks. It can be no question of learning by experience 

 and parental training. It will squat at that cry, and at that cry- 

 only, though not from any knowledge of the safety so acquired. Part- 

 ridges reared under a hen never squat, although danger is threatening, 

 and the foster mother is clucking in a dreadful fluster. The 24-hours 

 old chicks are evidently frightened, and often damage them- 

 selves in their frantic rush for the coop, or other place of imagined 

 security ; but " squatting," which is their only real chance of safety 

 in an emergency, is never resorted to. The necessary stimulus is 

 absent, and that stimulus is supplied by one particular cry of the 

 parents and nothing else. 



The parents themselves face the danger, whatever it may be, 

 courageously. If it is a dog, the\- will flutter away a few yards in 

 front of his nose, hardly able to fly, and then drop one wing as though 

 broken, and limp and struggle a few yards further, of course in a 

 direction away from the chicks. One bird generally occupies the 

 stage at a time, usually the male, and if his wiles fail entirely, the 

 female will join in, and fly across the dog only a foot or two away, 

 so that he can almost catch her in his mouth as she passes, and will 

 go through the most desperate antics to draw him away from the 

 dangerous neighbourhood. Their performance with a human being 

 is very much the same, and they appear perfectly fearless at such a 

 time. I once had a cock Partridge rush at me and peck my gaiters, 

 because he could not draw my attention away in any other manner. 

 Crows, rooks, or hawks, which are threatening their chicks, they 

 receive in the same spirit. The female at once covers the chicks, 



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