142 STOEIES OF BIRD LIFE 



This afternoon they had been feeding in the field, eating 

 weed seeds as well as grains of corn which had been left on 

 the ground at harvesting. As insects become less numer- 

 ous in the fall, the birds must depend more and more on 

 a diet of this character. 



All in a bunch the covey of partridges crouched with 

 their tails together and heads pointed outward in all direc- 

 tions. The farmer's dog, while scouting about with no 

 apparent object, passed near them. In an instant they 

 were all upon the wing, each taking a separate course. 

 Two of the number did not come to earth but flew up on 

 the lower limb of a pine near by. In a few minutes the 

 ''scatter call," consisting of two or three low, anxious 

 notes, was being sounded as the members of the disunited 

 family sought each other again before going to sleep. 



One of the birds in the pine tree tarried for a time on 

 his new found perch. Just what happened to him will 

 never be written. But this much is known. The big 

 swamp owl was very noisy that night, and his calls were 

 answered by another which was not his mate. The old 

 inhabitant appeared to be quarrelling with a stranger, as 

 at this season of the year many barred owls come into the 

 country and swell the owl census considerably. Indeed 

 so boisterous did the two become that an old colored man 



