VIRGINIAN COLIN. 409 



this circumstance, I went cautiously about to find the dam 

 with her little ones; and, after searching a considerable 

 time, the first intimation I had of her presence was from 

 her flying in my face with great agitation, like our common 

 hen. I retired much gratified, and observed the young 

 ones, nine in number, collect again under the wings of their 

 mother. The assiduity of this excellent parent was truly 

 exemplary, and her attention unremitting, and she reared 

 them every one with very little trouble. What is very 

 singular, there were eight cocks and but one hen, all of 

 whom were reared till they moulted, and got their adult 

 plumage ; when, from some cause which I could never as- 

 certain, they began to droop one after another ; and before 

 Christmas all the young birds died. Though I examined 

 the stomachs and gizzards of most of them, yet I never 

 could find out the cause of their deaths ; but I have little 

 doubt of its being some deleterious substance picked up in 

 the place where I separated them from the old ones, soon 

 after they became fully fledged, as the old birds escaped 

 this mortality. 



" The other pair never bred ; but it was easily account- 

 ed for, as the hen was unwell from the time I turned 

 them down, and she lingered on to October, and then 

 died. 



" Previously to and during the time the hen was sitting, 

 the cock serenaded her with his harsh and singular notes, 

 some of them very similar to the mewing of a cat. He 

 had also a peculiarity of constantly running round in a 

 circle, till the ground whereon he performed his evolutions 

 was worn as bare as a road, and the turf trodden down 

 much in the same way as it is by the Ruff in the fens 

 during the season of incubation. 



" Nothing could be more cordial and harmonious than 

 this happy family. When the shades of evening approached, 



