PERFECT PARENTS 179 



The partridge pair are supreme, nevertheless. They 

 have attained to a sort of equality of parentage that, so 

 fir as I know, has no close parallel. A habit that 

 other keepers can attest is illustrated hy the behaviour of 

 these birds sitting side by side, their wings almost touching, 

 over the dozen and more of youngsters snug in the grass 

 tussocLand alongside some of the oldest oaks in England, 

 Not rarely, but almost as a rule, the two brood the young 

 together, brood the eggs indiscriminately. They pair in 

 January, ,and the family remains inseparable through the 

 winter, which is a strangely rare habit in either birds or 

 mammals. It is worth notice that the long-tailed tits and 

 the grouse, who also retain the family unit when summer 

 is past, enjoy large families. Grouse as well as partridge 

 are so reluctant to leave the eggs or young that they are 

 often, alas ! killed where they sit by Milton s &quot; abhorred 

 shears,&quot; by the blade of the reaper. Two partridges have 

 been watched fighting in company in defence of their 

 young, till the ground was bedded with their feathers 

 and they were too exhausted to move. Again, no other 

 bird is quite so skilful in the strange art of pretending to 

 be maimed in order to withdraw attention from the brood. 

 I have known a bird to give a big dog no more than a 

 yard or two of margin and draw him 150 yards from the 

 nesting place. 



Nor is half yet said of the power of their affection. A 

 whole scientific breeding system has been built on their 

 passionate pairing. They seem to be aware of particular 

 affinities and select one another by mutual attraction even 

 when divided by the stern wires of a cage. They fore 

 taste the affection of the covey two and three months 

 before the first egg is laid ; and such is the love of family 

 that if they are robbed of their clutch the hen will con 

 tinue to lay up to three and four score of fertile eggs that 



