98 The Partridge Family 



had closely studied a page of Bob-white's primer. 

 A personal memory of the covers of Vancouver 

 Island is all the more pleasant because of one day 

 during which the crested sprinters did not all get 

 away at the crack of the gun. A wise old dog 

 that had been brought north from California ren- 

 dered yeoman service by pointing bird after bird, 

 and for perhaps an hour two guns were busy at a 

 very fair imitation of genuine sport. This par- 

 ticular lot of birds certainly lay close, and when 

 flushed showed considerable speed, but taken on 

 their merits, judged by our experience, they fell 

 below the high standard of the eastern bird. 

 Other lots, found near by, ran persistently, and by 

 their behavior caused what may be termed much 

 strenuous speech. 



Where the birds are plentiful, at the conclu- 

 sion of the breeding season the broods of a dis- 

 trict band together, thus forming great packs, of 

 which one may contain three or four hundred 

 individuals. This grouselike habit of packing is 

 common to most of the partridges, and, in spite 

 of noted authorities to the contrary, I am con- 

 vinced that the Bob-white iColinus virginianus) 

 also occasionally packs during the period of par- 

 tial migration. I do not mean that hundreds join 

 forces, but that from forty to sixty are now and 

 then found together, all matured birds, at the 

 opening of the season during the restless period. 



