180 THE BOOK of MIGRATORY BIRDS 



to be exceedingly destructive. Hunting men cry out for 

 old foxes, but the game preserver for young ones. 



A few seasons ago we watched a kestrel hawk stealing 

 young partridges from a brood a few days old, and any- 

 one who witnessed that sight would no longer proclaim 

 the innocence of the bird. From what we saw, we arrived 

 at an opinion that long grass is the best protection a 

 brood can have, as the chicks have sense enough to bury 

 themselves in it, and, strive how it may, the hawk cannot 

 disentangle a chick from among it. The hawk clutches 

 grass and all, cannot disengage its prey, and dare not 

 stay long because the old birds attack it. A peculiar fact 

 about the hawk is that, however heavy its burden, one claw 

 only is used to carry away the prey. The writer has 

 never seen a hawk employing both. 



Old partridges with broods are very careful to avoid 

 other partridges, evidently aware of each other's propen- 

 sity for stealing chicks, for there can be no other reason. 

 We have never seen two young broods in the vicinity 

 of each other, and, however many occupy a field, each lot 

 keeps to its own domain. Parent partridges are especially 

 fearful of any barren pair which dares to venture near 

 their brood, and at once drive those birds away at least, 

 the cock does so, assailing both male and female of the 

 barren pair, and following them up till their retreat is 

 assured. Keepers often wonder at the appearance of a 

 pair of partridges with but one or two youngsters, when 

 other adjacent coveys are large, and these are more 

 frequently a barren pair which has stolen a chick or two 

 than a pair which has lost nearly all its brood after 

 hatching. 



