LOVE AND COURTSHIP 27 



snow-fall soon succeeds the rapidly dispelled sense 

 of warmth and comfort. Once more the partridges 

 unite their forces, and band together for mutual 

 society, and the advantages which they have found 

 by experience are sure to accrue from their discarded 

 intercourse. It would be a mistake to imagine that 

 such a retrograde movement as fans- 1 packing* to- 

 gether of paired birds appears to be implies that 

 the males have discarded their former appropriation 

 of individual partners. Although they fly and feed 

 together, the individual pairs preserve their liberty of 

 action, and only share the movements of their com- 

 panions until the arrival of more settled weather 

 invites them to scatter in all directions. March, in 

 spite of its proverbial roar, is pre-eminently the 

 month in which the harsh, raucous call-note of the 

 cock partridge attracts most attention from country 

 folk. Rasping as the effect of the familiar cry 

 certainly is, it possesses a charm peculiarly its own, 

 stirring into life old memories of days spent in 

 tramping the fields, and reviving enthusiasms that 

 might otherwise have continued to slumber for many 

 months. Not the least pleasant feature of the 

 coupling of the partridges is the constant devotion of 

 bird to bird. Their loves are real enough, and they 

 become constant and inseparable companions for the 



