DANGERS OF THE GROUND 173 



one of those sudden June thunder-storms that gives us 

 vastly more rain to the minute than any storms of the year, 

 one of his first thoughts is apt to be of the young partridges. 

 Every year, or almost every year, scores of young birds are 

 killed by such rains. It is not that they are drowned right 

 out, though this may happen. It is that they cannot dry 

 their fluff. The oil-glands do not work. Though there may 

 be bouts of sunlight sufficient to dry birds in the open, they 

 are caught in the corridors of the corn or the tall grasses, 

 which drip and rub the moisture on them long after the 

 storm is over. Rheumatism and all manner of pains oppress 

 them. They dwindle and die. Even insect food, which is 

 their chief diet at this date, may be hard to come by in 

 stormy weather. It is by way of escape from such dangers 

 perhaps that often the old bird takes her dapper little brood 

 to the roadways, which serve as warm and smooth prom- 

 enades, where everything is provided that a bird in search of 

 health could well desire. It is a little dangerous perhaps 

 if traffic is frequent ; but the spry chicks even when very 

 young manage as a rule to skedaddle into the gutter of the 

 roads even if the approaching motor is fast, and pedestrians 

 who may now and again pick up the young usually replace 

 them. 



In fear perhaps of the dangers of wet, partridges often 

 prefer the bases of the hedgerows for their nests, but here 

 they lose the security of the open field. The hedges are 

 the roads of all sorts of vermin, of rats and weasels and 

 stoats. Foxes, moreover, accept the hedgerow as their 

 proper hunting - ground. They go out bird - nesting, and 

 their nose and eye is so keen that they will on occasion 

 destroy every single nest along a mile or more of hedge. 

 Out in the fields it is comparatively rare to find a nest 

 destroyed by vermin, however obvious the place ; but along 



