150 THE PARTRIDGE 



and trailing their wings as if in great distress and 

 pain. The hubbub continued, but the night was 

 too dark for any further observation of their 

 movements. Next day when I visited the spot, 

 only two little fledglings squatted on the plat- 

 form of rushes at the end of the willow bough, 

 and I judged that the water-vole, while fleeing 

 for his life, had thrown the otter off his scent, 

 and that the moorhen's brood had been hunted 

 instead. 



Something similar might have happened had 

 the partridge left her nest uncovered. The 

 bank-vole, even if he himself did not destroy the 

 eggs, might, in all likelihood, have brought 

 about their destruction by another creature. 

 Chased by a weasel, he would, perhaps, have led 

 his pursuer over the nest, with the result that, 

 while he himself escaped, the " vear " would 

 stay and greedily devour the unexpected spoils. 

 The hare and the fox show great cleverness in 

 their attempts to baffle the hounds. While 

 running through a flock of sheep, their only 

 object may not be to delay the hounds by 

 " fouling " the scent. Probably, what they 

 most desire is that the hounds should recognise 

 the presence of other animals that may well 

 repay persistent hunting, and should thus forget 

 the object of their first long chase. Of course, 

 the fox and the hare cannot take into account 



