254 



AUTUMN AND WINTER 



by some children huddled into the gutter of a Hertfordshire 

 lane. The birds were brought home in a felt hat, were kept 

 for some hours, and then taken back to the place where they 

 were found and put just over the hedge. Almost in an 

 instant the old birds found them, and with a busy chuckle of 

 delight led the family down the gold corridors of the level 

 corn which made their palatial home. 



Whether birds suffer pain or pleasure, as we use the words, 

 may be left to theorists. It is certain that these birds during 

 their hours of loss suffered alarm and anxiety as real as 

 reason itself could discover. 



With partridges, more clearly than any other bird, you 

 may see from day to day how sharp is the fight with enemies. 

 In any county where keepers are few or incompetent, almost 

 every covey will lose members quite apart from the havoc of 

 the guns. In the quiet, almost domestic countryside of Eng- 

 land the enemies cannot be numerous, as they are for example 

 in Donegal or Scotland, where the peregrine and the golden 

 eagle are added to the ' vermin.' Indeed 

 the enemy must be on the ground, with 

 one or two exceptions. One new flying 

 enemy has been more or less recently 

 introduced. In a Cambridgeshire district, 

 where partridges were very strictly pre- 

 served, a full-grown partridge was caught 

 in the open field by a small Spanish owl, 

 one of that exotic tribe imported by Lord 

 Lilford, about which there is much to be 

 said. The little owl in this case, though 

 looking rather larger than its victim, was 

 In fact nothing like so heavy ; and only the hunting spirit, 

 abetted by that marvellous weapon, its prehensile claw, could 

 have accomplished such a David and Goliath feat. 



LITTLE OWL 



