A Wary Mother 197 



partridges to get us to chase her away from 

 the vicinity of her precious nest. Finally she 

 flew away and we showed Seebright the nest 

 with twelve warm eggs in it. 



The little bantam seemed delighted with 

 our discovery, and she settled down upon the 

 eggs just as though it had been her own nest 

 and not that of her wild kindred. 



Ben and I then staked the netting down 

 carefully about her, making a fine netted 

 coop ; not even a weasel could have gotten her 

 when we had finished. 



We then put in some corn and a dish of 

 water and left her to finish hatching the 

 young partridges. 



The following afternoon we went to the 

 woods to see how Seebright was getting 

 along. We had barely entered the forest and 

 were still quite a distance from the nest when 

 we heard the quick clucking and cries of 

 " quit, quit," that the mother partridge al- 

 ways uses when she is trying to hide her 

 young. 



" Quick, Harry, quick," cried Ben, and we 



