26 CUR DOMESTIC FO^\'LS. 



capable of running about, and following tlieir 

 parent ; they pick up their food, to which 

 the mother conducts them, without having to 

 be fed like the young of the finches and 

 warblers in their snug nests, till they acquire 

 the power of flitting about. They repose at 

 night huddled up beneath their parent's wings. 

 The males of the species composing the 

 present group are extremely pugnacious, and 

 will often fight with each other to the death 

 of one of the rivals. The game-cock, the 

 jungle-cock, the pheasant, and the quail, are 

 notorious for their combative propensities. 

 The females are devoted to their broods, and 

 lose all sense of personal danger in their de- 

 fence ; a hen will fly boldly in the face of a 

 dog, and even the timid partridge will fight 

 for its young. Mr. Selby records an instance 

 in w^hich a pair of partridges (for these birds 

 are not polygamous) attacked a crow which 

 had attempted to seize one of their brood ; 

 they fought not only courageously but success- 

 fully, for they actually fastened upon and 

 held their sable adversary ; and so absorbed 

 were they in the strife, that they persisted in 

 their hold till the spectator of the combat 

 came to their aid, and seized upon the rais- 



