44 Redrujf 



young ones were now three parts grown. They 

 knew just enough to think themselves wonder- 

 fully wise. When they were small it was nec- 

 essary to sleep on the ground so their mother 

 could shelter them, but now they were too big 

 to need that, and the mother began to introduce 

 grown-up ways of life. It was time to roost in 

 the trees. The young weasels, foxes, skunks, 

 and minks were beginning to run. The ground 

 grew more dangerous each night, so at sundown 

 Mother Partridge called * K-reet^ and flew into 

 a thick, low tree. 



The little ones followeo, except one, an obsti- 

 nate little fool who persisted in sleeping on the 

 ground as heretofore. It was all right that 

 time, but the next night his brothers were 

 awakened by his cries. There was a slight 

 scuffle, then stillness, broken only by a horrid 

 sound of crunching bones and a smacking of 

 lips. They peered down into the terrible dark- 

 ness below, where the glint of two close-set eyes 

 and a peculiar musty smell told them that a 

 mink was the killer of their fool brother. 



Six little partridges now sat in a row at night, 

 with their mother in the middle, though it was 

 not unusual for some little one with cold feet to 

 perch on her back. 



Their education went on, and about this time 



