44 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 



to contend with. In olden days, the fork-tailed kite 

 used to carry off tiny partridges from their shelter in 

 the young corn, as we have seen the red bird essay 

 to do at the present time in Germany. Even the 

 dainty merlin will, on rare occasions, vary his usual 

 dietary of small birds, by carrying to his downy 

 falcons that lie crouching in the heather a delicate 

 little partridge. Sparrow-hawks and even kestrels 

 have a weakness for young game birds, though the 

 kestrel preys on voles and shrews almost exclusively. 

 Sometimes a pair of carrion crows descend from their 

 outpost in the top of a dead tree to make havoc of 

 a brood of partridges ; a bold defence then becomes 

 necessary to secure their rescue from the maw of the 

 rascally invader. 



But even when no danger exists, or at any rate is 

 imminent, the partridge is ready to engage in a fray 

 on trifling provocation. The water-hen is no less 

 gamesome than its aristocratic neighbour, and often 

 exchanges blows with the partrfdges if thirst induce 

 them to enter its territory. As the summer advances, 

 it is pretty to watch the old partridges foraging with 

 their brood ; the cock bird half runs, half flies, while 

 the female teaches her chicks to thread their way 

 through the long grass or waving corn, daintily picking 

 off the insects that cling to the stems of the plants. 



