306 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



or causes them to crouch to the earth, silent and motion- 

 less as marble. Months elapse ere the young birds gain 

 the full use of their wings', and the entire brood and 

 their parents invariably keep together until the follow- 

 ing mating season. 



The Partridge roosts on the ground : if it be in the 

 autumn and winter months the entire covey roost together, 

 invariably forming a circle, with their heads outwards. 

 Should danger then approach, no matter in what direc- 

 tion, the birds are always ready to receive it. The alarm 

 note sounds, and the birds either crouch low and motion- 

 less, or separate and fly quickly off, not to again unite 

 until daylight returns. Despite all their vigilance, I fear 

 the rat and the weasel make sad havoc in their ranks. 



The Partridge becomes social in the autumn and 

 winter, yet not what we can call gregarious. Covey joins 

 covey, and if not molested these packs will keep in com- 

 pany, feeding and roosting together. It is, however, 

 only where the bird occurs in large numbers that these 

 gatherings are seen, for as far as I can learn it is not a 

 migratory or even a wandering species. There 'are parts 

 of the day when the partridge is inactive, crouching low 

 in the herbage and basking in the sun. These times are 

 in the middle of the day ; and at morning and evening 

 the bird seeks its food it has no other cause for activity, 

 save in the breeding season. In the autumn months 

 Partridges delight to nestle close in the grass fields, and 

 at feeding time repair to the neighbouring stubbles : they 

 will also remain the greater part of the day amongst 

 turnips, on whose tender shoots they sometimes feed. 



Were you to examine the Partridge in the hot months 

 of the year, you would probably find vast quantities of 

 parasites amongst its plumage, and this doubtless is the 

 reason the birds are so addicted to dusting themselves. 



