STOKIES ABOUT BIRDS. 243 



remember that I ever yet had the wit to dis 

 cover a partridge's nest. 



THE PARTEIDGE, PLAYING A TPJCK. 



The drumming of the partridge is one of his 

 singular habits. Few who are in the habit of 

 visiting his haunts in the woods can have failed 

 to hear this drumming. The noise is made 

 only by the males. At first the strokes are 

 slow and distinct ; but they gradually increase 

 in rapidity, till they run into each other, and 

 resemble the rumbhng sound of very distant 

 thunder, dying away gradually on the ear. 

 After a brief pause, the drumming is again re- 

 peated. In a calm day, it may be heard at the 



