PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING. 115 



course flown over for forty or fifty rods, as they will 

 often fly that distance and then drop dead. 



I well remember once going out at some distance 

 into the open field, to find a woodcock which had 

 flown out of the woods. In coming back to the cover 

 I followed a stone-wall hedge, when up flushed an old 

 cock-partridge. I covered him with my gun, and let 

 fly. I could not perceive any change in his flight, for 

 he kept up the rapid, straightforward movement ; yet 

 still I thought I ought to have dropped him. The 

 next morning while looking for more woodcock in the 

 same cover, I found all at once in front of me a dead 

 cock-partridge. It immediately occurred to me that 

 this might be the bird shot at yesterday, and I made 

 for the stone-wall in the open field, which I found 

 was in a straight line from where the bird lay. It 

 had flown one breath of about forty rods, and dropped 

 dead. 



In the summer and fall the cock-partridge is often 

 heard drumming, usually while standing on a log or 

 stump in the woods. Old hunters formerly supposed 

 that they struck their wings against the log. But it is 

 now generally admitted that the sound is made by in- 

 flating the body with air, and striking the wings against 

 the sides. The wings being concave, hold the air to 

 the body, and by their rapid motion produce a hollow 

 guttural sound, which, even when the bird is quite near, 

 has the effect of a distant booming noise. This is 

 supposed to be an amorous noise, which the bird 

 makes by way of showing his mighty powers to his 

 weaker sisters, much as the torn -turkey gives off a pe- 



