BRITISH GAME-BIRDS. 213 



amongst the trailing brambles : none of the bram- 

 bles lose all their leaves in the winter; green and 

 withered leaves can be seen on them, no matter 

 how hard the weather may be. As the small fruit 

 with large seeds is not considered worth picking, 

 it drops when dead ripe and falls on the ground; 

 the pulp rots but the seeds remain there, well pro- 

 tected by the tangle above them, and the birds know 

 of it. When hard times come they know where food 

 can be found, and they get it as a rule. There are 

 no rules, however, without exceptions. 



Partridges jug or roost in a sort of round-robin 

 fashion, their heads turned outwards and their tails 

 of course the reverse way. This is all right, and 

 very nice when weather permits it ; but just before 

 the sun, like a globe of fire seen through the cold 

 grey clouds, gets very low down, the partridges make 

 for warmer quarters. I have remarked in some of 

 my books on natural life, furred and feathered, 

 how very closely wild creatures at times will come 

 to the localities where man has his home and sur- 

 roundings. The subject of this chapter is a keen 

 bird, and from time beyond record his race have 

 kept near the tillers of the soil. 



