Camp Fire Legends of Wood Folks 327 



You see I am such an old man that I have 

 forgotten a great many things that I used to 

 know, and that was one of them. It was this 

 way: 



" Once there was a cock partridge who was 

 not so beautiful as his fellows, and he had a 

 hard time getting a mate. You know girls 

 and women think a pile of fine feathers, and 

 so do the lady birds. 



" This cock was strong and smart and all 

 right in every way, only his feathers were 

 rusty, and this made him feel awkward and 

 out of place. You know how a boy feels when 

 company comes and he has got on his old 

 clothes with holes in the knees and elbows. 



" Well, this cock didn't have anything but 

 just his old every-day rusty suit, so he didn't 

 feel like strutting up and down, and wooing 

 the lady partridges as the other cocks did. 

 And the lady partridges wouldn't have any- 

 thing to do with him. 



" One day the poor cock was standing on 

 an old log in a deep thicket, wishing that the 

 hawk or the owl would happen along and 



