PARTKIDGE SHOOTING. 209 



Nothing satisfactory is yet known respecting trie 

 cause which impels the partridge to shift its lo- 

 cality, for a few weeks, during what is commonly 

 called the running season. These movements oc- 

 cur in October and the first week in November, 

 generally in companies considerably exceeding 

 the usual number of the respective coveys, and 

 are observed to be directed from the north- 

 west towards the sea-board, and the low grounds 

 along the large water-courses. Possibly, they 

 may be governed by an instinctive desire for 

 some unknown species of food, only to be found 

 in these latter districts. The little travellers, 

 like the devotees of old, literally perform their 

 annual pilgrimage barefoot, merely making use 

 of their wings to cross such streams as occur in 

 their route, and running with such amazing 

 swiftness, when encountered by man, as to 

 make it difficult to overtake and flush them, 

 even with a fleet dog. We have frequently met 

 them crossing the roads in great numbers, and 

 at other times observed them running through 

 the streets of towns and villages, and even upon 

 the house-tops, before sun-rise. The same 

 periodical movements have been noticed in the 

 ruffed grouse and the wild turkey, and a few 

 years since a small flock of the latter made their 



