158 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



their parents in stratagy, fly to cover with equal 

 swiftness and less appearance of labor. They 

 are, however, incapable of sustaining long flights, 

 easier brought down, and less fleet on their legs 

 when winged. When cornered by the dog, they 

 sometimes utter a shrill squeak. They are more 

 apt to crouch at the approach of danger than the 

 old birds, and when scattered by the sportsman 

 make for the nearest shelter, where they keep 

 silent for a time, but soon show their desire to 

 re-assemble by calling and answering each other 

 from different parts of the covert. Their signal 

 notes on these occasions are soft, plaintive and 

 peculiarly expressive of anxiety. The old birds 

 fly further and deeper into the woods, preserve a 

 wary silence for many moments together, and 

 are only to be traced to their hiding places by 

 the keen nose of your four-footed advuvant. 



Inasmuch as we observe the partridge invari- 

 ably taking to cover, when flushed by sportsmen 

 or pursued by birds of prey, and, in fact, passing 

 most of its time near its edge, we might at first 

 glance imagine that the same instinct would lead 

 it to select its place of repose in the deep shade 

 of the thicket. Such, however, is not the case. 

 We know that it roosts in the open fields, but 

 never in the same enclosure in which it feeds, 

 unless it be of unusual extent. 



