THE PARTRIDGE. 103 



unable to get from us. While the dam acted this dis- 

 tress, the boy who attended me saw her brood, that were 

 small and unable to fly, run for shelter into an old fox- 

 earth under the bank. So wonderful a power is instinct." 



Another instance is more remarkable. A gentleman 

 was hunting with a young pointer, when the dog ran on 

 a brood of very small partridges : the old bird cried, 

 fluttered, and ran tumbling along just before the dog's 

 nose, till she had drawn him to a considerable distance, 

 when she took wing and flew still farther off", but not 

 out of the field. On this the dog returned to his mas- 

 ter, near which place the young ones lay concealed in 

 the grass, which the old bird no sooner perceived than 

 she flew back again, settled once more just before the 

 dog's nose, and, by rolling and tumbling about, drew off 

 his attention from her young, and thus, for the second 

 time, preserved her brood. 



Captain Head describes an adventure of his with an 

 American partridge. The snow in the woods was crisp 

 from the night's frost, and the sun was just rising in a 

 clear sky, when the marks of game attracted his notice, 

 and his spaniel at the same time showed the most eager 

 curiosity in the pursuit, quartering the ground from right 

 to left. After walking about half an hour, the dog 

 suddenly went in search, and on going up to him, the 



