42 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 
to safe cover ; as, for example, under the shelter of 
some clumps of furze, that will screen them from 
observation. The chicks mature rapidly, if the 
weather is warm and kindly, with plenty of sunshine. 
Of course, if the weather prove exceedingly hot, the 
circumstances attending the rearing of the covey 
become less favourable. On heavy clay soils the 
earth is liable to contract and split into fissures, 
which are veritable death-traps for partridge chicks. 
Not the least interesting feature of the hatching- 
out period in the life of the partridge is the courage 
which it develops in both parents. During the incu- 
bation of the eggs the birds only desired to escape 
attention as far as possible, and to elude the acute- 
ness of prowling fox or thievish crow. But their 
shyness becomes transformed into audacity if their 
tender young are jeopardised. The attentions of any 
interfering biped may be diverted by the pretty 
strategy that suggests itself to many nesting birds. 
Even the little blackcap warbler will adopt the time- 
honoured ruse of simulating the actions of a wounded 
bird, with a view to draw a stranger away from the 
shrub that contains its callow family in their simple 
grassy nest. The earnestness with which a hen 
blackcap will endeavour to convince her enemy that 
she has become crippled by some untoward accident 
