WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 65 



seem harsh and discordant ; but there, the player 

 unseen, his simple notes harmonize with the open 

 plain, the looming hills, the ruddy sunset, as if striving 

 to express the feelings these call forth. 



Resting thus on the wild thyme under the haw- 

 thorn, partly hidden and quite silent, we may see steal- 

 ing out from the corn into the fallow hard by first 

 one, then two, then half a dozen or more young 

 partridge chicks. With them is the anxious mother, 

 watching the sky chiefly, lest a hawk be hovering 

 about ; nor will she lead them far from the cover of 

 the wheat. She stretches her neck up to listen and 

 look; then, reassured, walks on, her head nodding 

 as she moves. The little ones crowd after, one darting 

 this way, another that, learning their lesson of life 

 how and where to find the most suitable food, how to 

 hide from the enemy, imitation of the parent develop- 

 ing hereditary inclinations. 



At the slightest unwonted sound or movement she 

 first stretches her neck up for a hurried glance, then, as 

 the labouring folk say, " quats " that is, crouches 

 down and in a second or two runs swiftly to cover, 

 using every little hollow of the ground skilfully for 

 concealment on the way, like a practised skirmisher. 

 The ants' nests, which are so attractive to partridges, 

 are found in great numbers along the edge of the 

 cornfields, being usually made on ground that is 

 seldom disturbed. The low mounds that border the 

 green track are populous with ants, whose nests are 

 scattered thickly on these banks, as also beside the 



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