302 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



brood. Should ants' nests be at hand, she leads them 

 thither and unearths the eggs for them. The young 

 advance to maturity somewhat slowly, and are seldom 

 strong on the wing before the- latter end of July, some- 

 times much later, according to the time they were 

 hatched. I am of opinion that but one brood is reared 

 in the year, and the female and her young sometimes 

 remain in company until the following spring. 



I will not dwell upon the slaughter of these hand- 

 some birds in the autumn and winter months ; how, 

 after they are fed and tended with tlie greatest care, they 

 are slain in thousands, and how this cruelty is shrouded 

 under the name of a grand battue ; for the description of 

 such scenes is at variance with my object, which is 

 only to treat with the life histories of birds in ferd 

 naturd (which are of little interest to the naturalist, 

 though looked forward to by the sportsman as days of 

 keenest enjoyment). 



