THE GUN 121 



wariness, shared by the whole species. It is intel- 

 ligence that runs in grooves, like that of the honey- 

 bee. We do not find an individual rabbit striking 

 out a special line of intelligence for itself. 



A subject akin to this of the crow and the rabbit 

 shunning danger is that of the partridge " shamming 

 wounded " when her young are threatened. I came 

 upon a troop of partridge chicks in the grass by 

 the road across the downs just the place where 

 the old birds take their young a day or two after 

 the hatching. Two families seemed to be mingled, 

 for three old birds ran and clamoured in front of 

 me. They spread out and brushed their wings along 

 the road as they scuttled about, but here I could 

 see no sign of " shamming wounded." One observa- 

 tion in Nature is ever contradicting another about 

 the same thing ; it is this which makes me shy of 

 taking up finally this engaging theory or that. True, 

 the little black grubs of the peacock butterfly on the 

 nettle, when they are alarmed, always appear to sham 

 death though, strangely enough, not the full-grown 

 grubs. But if one partridge or wild-duck, when her 

 young are approached, seems " shamming wounded," 

 another only seems trying by wing play to draw 

 attention to herself. There is a great difference 

 between a bird pretending to be wounded and a 

 bird fluttering and dragging her wings to attract 

 notice. To-day I have doubts about the " shamming 

 wounded " by the partridge, though I do not deny 



