242 THE HISTORY OF ANIMATE. [fl. CX, 



in the same manner. If the partridge used for fowling is a 

 cock, they behave in this way ; but if it is a female, and she 

 calls, the leader answers her call ; and all the rest rise uu 

 and beat him, and drive him away from the female, because 

 he attends to her instead of themselves. For this reason 

 he often comes silently, that the others may not hear hia 

 voice and come out to fight him. And some experienced 

 fowlers say that the male approaches the female in silence, 

 that the other males may not hear him and compel him to 

 fight them. The partridge not only calls, but also utters a 

 shrill cry and other sounds. 



5. And it often happens, when the hen is sitting, that if 

 she sees the male approaching the decoy bird, she will get 

 up from her nest and remain in his way, that he may have 

 intercourse w r ith her, and not be drawn away by the decoy 

 bird. Partridges and quails have such violent sexual desires 

 that they will fall upon the fowlers and often perch upou 

 tiieir heads. 



CHAPTER X. 



1. THIS is the mode of the sexual intercourse of the par 

 tridge, and the way in which they are caught, and the nature 

 of the rest of their crafty disposition. Quails, and partridges, 

 and some other birds make their nest upon the ground, as 

 it has been already observed. Of such birds the lark, wood 

 cock, and quail do not perch upon trees, but upon the ground. 

 2. The woodpecker does not settle upon the ground, but 

 it strikes trees in order to drive out the worms and flies 

 which they contain, and it picks them up with its tongue as 

 they emerge. Its tongue is wide and large. It walks upon 

 the trees in any position, even beneath the branches, like the 

 gecko. It has claws stronger than those of the coloeus, which 

 provide for its safety in climbing trees ; for it fixes them in 

 the bark as it walks up the trees. There is one kind of 

 woodpecker less than the blackbird, covered with smajl 

 red spots, and another kind larger than the blackbird, and 

 a third kind nearly as large as the domestic hen. It builds 

 its nest upon trees, as it has been already observed, both on 

 olive and other trees ; and it feeds upon ants and worms 

 which live in trees. It hunts for worms so diligentlv that 

 they say it hollows out the trees so much as to throw them 



