190 Trails to Woods and Waters 



standing upon it, one at either end, with their 

 heads down and facing each other in the most 

 belligerent attitude. 



Their feathers were all bristled up and they 

 looked about twice their ordinary size. 



Presently the old cock, with the feathers 

 low down on his legs, sprang at his antagonist 

 and buffeted him off the log. The quarrel 

 was evidently over the log; or, rather, the fe- 

 male partridge whose admiration and love 

 were won by the cock who drummed here, so 

 there was really a good deal at stake. 



The younger cock did not take the buffet 

 that sent him to the ground kindly, for he at 

 once sprang back and dealt the old cock such 

 a blow with beak and wings, that the real 

 owner of the log was dislodged from his 

 perch. 



This was the signal for a battle royal. 

 Such a battle as makes the fighting of the or- 

 dinary barnyard fowl seem tame enough. 

 The partridge is much quicker and stronger 

 for its size than any domestic fowl. Where 

 the slower domestic fowl would strike once 



