138 STORIES OF BIRD LIFE 



Great was the anxiety of the old ones that day, for they 

 had so many duties to perform. Nourishment must be 

 found for mouths which as yet had never tasted food. 

 The grass must be watched for lurking cat or skunk or 

 gliding snake. One eye must be kept open for dogs or 

 men. The sky must be watched for the murderous hawk, 

 while all the time great care must be exercised to keep the 

 family together. 



As Farmer Levering was crossing the meadow he heard, 

 a short distance in advance, the rapidly repeated, warning 

 clucks of a partridge. At the same moment he caught sight 

 of a number of small downy objects hurrying with low 

 whistling cries in all directions. Hardly were they seen 

 before all had disappeared. Beneath blades of grass, 

 under the edges of upturned clods, lying flat in the open, 

 anywhere, everywhere they had hidden. As if by magic 

 all had vanished and, search as carefully as he might, not 

 one could be found. Two adult birds, apparently in great 

 pain and distress, were fluttering along the ground eight 

 or ten yards away. 



The farmer did not follow nor attempt to catch these 

 shrewd old parents. Well did he know their secret, nor 

 would he have harmed either the old birds or their young. 

 It was a beautiful sight to him, this devotion of the parents, 

 as they recklessly risked their lives for their offspring. 



