LOVE AND COURTSHIP 27 
snow-fall soon succeeds the rapidly dispelled sense 
of warmth and comfort. Once more the partridges 
unite their forces, and band together for mutual 
society, and the advantages which they have found 
by experience are sure to accrue from their discarded 
intercourse. It would be a mistake to imagine that 
such a retrograde movement as this ‘ packing’ to- 
gether of paired birds appears to be implies that 
the males have discarded their former appropriation 
of individual partners. Although they fly and feed 
together, the individual pairs preserve their liberty of 
action, and only share the movements of their com- 
panions until the arrival of more’ settled weather 
invites them to scatter in all directions. March, in 
spite of its proverbial roar, is pre-eminently the 
month in which the harsh, raucous call-note of the 
cock partridge attracts most attention from country 
folk. Rasping as the effect of the familiar cry 
certainly is, it possesses a charm peculiarly its own, 
stirring into life old memories of days spent in 
tramping the fields, and reviving enthusiasms that 
might otherwise have continued to slumber for many 
months. Not the least pleasant feature of the 
coupling of the partridges is the constant devotion of 
bird to bird. Their loves are real enough, and they 
become constant and inseparable companions for the 
