Redmff 



getting frosty and the coons less dangerous, so 

 the mother changed the place of roosting to the 

 thickest foliage of a hemlock-tree. 



Only one of the brood disregarded the warn- 

 ing '■Kreet, kreef He stuck to his swinging 

 elm-bough, now nearly naked, and a great yel- 

 low-eyed owl bore him off before morning. 



Mother and three young ones now were left, 

 but they were as big as she was; indeed one, 

 the eldest, he of the chip, was bigger. Their 

 ruffs had begun to show. Just the tips, to tell 

 what they would be like when grown, and not 

 a little proud they were of them. 



The ruff is to the partridge what the train is 

 to the peacock — his chief beauty and his pride. 

 A hen's ruff is black with a slight green gloss. 

 A cock's is much larger and blacker and is 

 glossed with more vivid bottle-green. Once in 

 a while a partridge is born of unusual size and 

 vigor, whose ruff is not only larger, but by 

 a peculiar kind of intensification is of a deep 

 coppery red, iridescent with violet, green, and 

 gold. Such a bird is sure to be a wonder to 

 all who know him, and the little one who had 

 squatted on the chip, and had always done what 



326 



