336 WHITE 



in the morning drowned in the same pond in which were sev- 

 eral geese, and it was supposed that in the night the fox swam 

 into the pond to devour the geese, but was attacked by the 

 gander, which, being most powerful in its own element, buf- 

 feted the fox with its wings about the head till it was drowned. 

 MARKWICK. 



HEN PARTRIDGE. A hen partridge came out of a ditch 

 and ran along shivering with her wings and crying out as if 

 wounded and unable to get from us. While the dam acted 

 this distress, the boy who attended me saw her brood, that 

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

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

 WHITE. 



It is not uncommon to see an old partridge feign itself 

 wounded and run along on the ground fluttering and crying 

 before either dog or man, to draw them away from its help- 

 less unfledged young ones. I have seen it often, and once in 

 particular I saw a remarkable instance of the old bird's solici- 

 tude to save its brood. As I was hunting a young pointer, 

 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 me, near which place the 

 young ones lay concealed in the grass, which the old bird no 

 sooner perceived than she flew back again to us, settled just 

 before the dog's nose again, and by rolling and tumbling 

 about, drew off his attention from her young, and thus pre- 

 served her brood a second time. I have also seen, when a 

 kite has been hovering over a covey of young partridges, the 

 old birds fly up at the bird of prey, screaming and fighting 

 with all their might to preserve their brood. MARKWICK. 



A HYBRID PHEASANT. Lord Stawell sent me from the 

 great lodge in the Holt a curious bird for my inspection. It was 

 found by the spaniels of one of his keepers in a coppice, and 

 shot on the wing. The shape, air, and habit of the bird, and 

 the scarlet ring round the eyes, agreed well with the appear- 



