CHAPTER II 



STRANGE ACCIDENTS TO WILD BIRDS 



TT^EW people, except sportsmen and naturalists, who 

 -*- make a special study of our feathered friends, 

 would ever dream of the numberless curious accidents 

 that overtake members of the avian world. 



A covey of partridges will upon occasion, for some 

 unexplained reason, fly right out to sea and alight on 

 the waves with as little apparent concern as they would 

 in a turnip field, though every single member of the 

 family is certain to perish by drowning. 



It would appear incredible that a bird should break 

 its wing in mid-air by the mere exertion of flight, yet 

 several well-authenticated accounts of accidents of this 

 kind are upon record. A gentleman whilst out quail 

 shooting some years ago in Egypt flushed an owl and 

 playfully raised his gun without any intention of firing, 

 when, to his great astonishment, the bird twisted in its 

 flight, collapsed and fell to the ground. Upon examina- 

 tion the astonished sportsman discovered that the un- 

 fortunate bird had broken its wing. 



Birds struck by shot will sometimes sail away 

 for a considerable distance before the fractured bone of 

 a broken wing becomes displaced by a little extra exer- 

 tion, and then, of course, they fall straightway to 



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