512 THE BIRDS OF MANITOBA THOMPSON. 



ridge's nest, but would not have discovered it had not the mother pur- 

 sued us some 20 feet that she might begin a vigorous attack on our 

 legs, whereupon we turned and found the nest. It was just at that 

 critical moment when the young were coming out. Those that were 

 hatched, some six or eight, hid so eftectually within a space of 6 ieet 

 that no sign of them could be seen after the first rush, and once hidden, 

 they ceased their plaintive peepiug and maintained a dead silence. 

 Meanwhile the mother was sorely distressed, running about our feet 

 with drooping wings, whinirig grievously in such entire forgetfulness 

 of herself and in such an agony of anxiety for her young that the hard- 

 est hearted must have pitied her and have felt constrained to leave her 

 in peace, as we did. 



This nest contained one addled egg and one with a chick dead and 

 dried in. The egg was 1| by 1^, brown, with a few dots of umber. 



Every fleldman must be acquainted with the simulation of lameness 

 by which many birds decoy, or try to decoy, intruders from their nests. 

 This is an invariable device of the partridge's, and I have no doubt 

 that it is quite successful with the natural foes of the bird; indeed, it is 

 often successful with man. More than once I have stood still when a 

 clucking bird flew up, and laughed heartily to see some tyro rushing 

 frantically after the limping mother, shouting '-Come on! she's 

 wounded !" A dog, as I have often seen, is certain to be misled and 

 duped, and there is little doubt that a mink, raccoon, skunk, fox, 

 coyote or wolf would fare no better. Imagine the effect of a bird's 

 tactics on a prowling fox. He has scented her as she sits; he is 

 almost upon her; but she has been watching him, and suddenly 

 with a loud "wMrr" (the whirr is essential, I think) she springs 

 up and tumbles a few yards before him. The suddenness and noise 

 •with which the bird appears causes the fox to be totally carried away; 

 he forgets all his former experiences ; he never thinks of the eggs ; 

 his mind is filled with the thought of the wounded bird almost within 

 his reach; a few more bounds and his meal will be secured. So he 

 springs and springs, and very nearly but not quite catches her; in 

 his excitement he is led on and away, till finally the bird flies off, leav- 

 ing him a quarter of a mile or more from the nest. 



If, instead of eggs, the partridge has chicks, she does not await the 

 coming of the enemy, but runs to meet and mislead him ere yet he is 

 in the neighborhood of the brood ; she then leads him far away, and 

 returning gathers her young together again by her voice. 



When surprised she utters a well-known danger signal, whereupon 

 the young ones hide under logs and among grass. Many persons say 

 they will each seize a leaf in their beaks and then turn on their 

 backs. I have never found any support for this idea, although I have 

 often seen one of the little creatures crawl under a dead leaf. 



By the end of September the young partridges are fully grown and 

 very fat. At this time they commonly spend the night either squat- 



