252 



AUTUMN AND WINTER 



them dead on the nest from cold and wet. They have been 

 killed by mowing machines, and the mother bird is not 

 uncommonly caught on the nest by a fox. 



In comparing the social habits of birds, no attribute 

 differs so much as the part played in the family by the cock 

 bird. Among some of the terns the whole care of the family 

 is given over to the cock. Polyandry, of a curious sort, pre- 

 vails. The hen bird takes a new mate and starts a new 





SITTING PARTRIDGE 



family — ab ovo — before the first clutch is off and away. 

 The father has therefore to serve for both parents. These 

 terns are at one extreme. At the other is the cuckoo ; and 

 between them are birds of every degree of family affection. 

 Some help to build ; some to brood ; some do nothing but 

 feed the mother, surrendering even this duty as early as may 

 be. The cock partridge takes as full a share as any in all 

 duties. He is astonishingly watchful of the family after it 

 has grown up. How often has the bird suffered from rising 

 first when the covey is flushed. Even in their mating there 

 seems to be some stronger, one might almost say more 

 mystic affection than with other animals. It is at any rate 

 certain that scientific breeders, especially in France, have 



