Northern Observations of Inland Birds i6i 



not lacking in intellect — or if so, our remaining game 

 birds are still more lacking. In wild nature the highest 

 kind of intelligence is indicated by the observance of the 

 rules of matrimonial decency and the affection of the 

 male parent for the young, as regards which the partridge 

 stands well up on the scale of intellect. The most moral 

 of wild animals, that is the most monogamous, are 

 invariably the cleverest, as witness the wolf, the fox, and 

 the roe deer ; whereas polygamy indicates low morality, 

 which is low intellectuality — the rabbit, the hare, and the 

 red and the fallow deer, which latter, compared with the 

 roe, are fools. No one who has studied the partridge 

 can faithfully describe it as a foolish bird, and we need 

 to remember that when first telegraph wires came into 

 use the partridges were killed in such numbers that it 

 was feared the species would eventually die out. They 

 have since become wise — that is, they have kept abreast 

 of the times, and the explanation doubtless is that the 

 flight of the partridge and the altitude it normally chooses 

 are such that the telegraph wires constitute a much 

 greater danger to it than to most other fast flying birds. 



When I was living by Loch Ken, a roadman assured me 

 that one dead still day he saw a covey of partridges alight 

 on the surface of the loch, at least two hundred yards 

 from the shore, evidently mistaking the water for a green 

 field. Only one of the birds saw the mistake in time, 

 but the observer could not make out, owing to the glare 

 on the water, whether the birds that alighted managed 

 to rise. I think that in all probability they would succeed 

 in doing so, as during a forest fire in Canada I, on one 

 occasion, saw numbers of ** partridges " dive into the 

 river, much as ptarmigan dive into a snow drift. 



It is a pity that the partridge season opens so early, 

 as during the first week or two, especially if the season 

 be late, there is a large number of birds still so weak on 



