164 KRIDER'S SPORTING ANECDOTES. 



hiding away from the dogs. The first, although 

 of some little interest to the naturalist, is of still 

 less to the sportsman, except, indeed, when a 

 scarcity of game has been experienced, as in 

 the last season, during which the gunsmiths 

 of Philadelphia sold less small shot than they 

 have done for years, and as furnishing a topic 

 for learned discussion on each annual campaign, 

 after his triumphant return from the woods and 

 stubbles. The other more nearly concerns the 

 shooter and his abettors, especially the intel- 

 lectual nose of Ponto, and is more curious in its 

 phrases, even when stript of the mystical air 

 with which some writers of the day would invest 

 it. In regard to the first point, we would ob- 

 serve, that although the partridge displays more 

 art in the process of nidification than the wood- 

 cock, yet from the comparatively late period of 

 her incubation, and from obvious causes con- 

 nected with agricultural pursuits, the nest of 

 the former is much more frequently found than 

 that of the latter bird. They are also more 

 jealous of intrusion, and more apt to abandon 

 the nest when disturbed. The mere flushing 

 her in this situation, is often resented by an 

 entire and immediate desertion of the spot, 

 which, for weeks previous, perhaps, had been 



