44 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 
to contend with. In olden days, the fork-tailed kite 
used to carry off tiny partridges from their shelter in 
the young corn, as we have seen the red bird essay 
to do at the present time in Germany. Even the 
dainty merlin will, on rare occasions, vary his usual 
dietary of small birds, by carrying to his downy 
falcons that lie crouching in the heather a delicate 
little partridge. Sparrow-hawks and even kestrels 
have a weakness for young game birds, though the 
kestrel preys on voles and shrews almost exclusively. 
Sometimes a pair of carrion crows descend from their 
outpost in the top of a dead tree to make havoc of 
a brood of partridges ; a bold defence then becomes 
necessary to secure their rescue from the maw of the 
rascally invader. 
But even when no danger exists, or at any rate is 
imminent, the partridge is ready to engage in a fray 
on trifling provocation. The water-hen is no less 
gamesome than its aristocratic neighbour, and often 
exchanges blows with the partridges if thirst induce 
them to enter its territory. As the summer advances, 
it is pretty to watch the old partridges foraging with 
their brood ; the cock bird half runs, half flies, while 
the female ‘teaches her chicks to thread their way 
through the long grass or waving corn, daintily picking 
off the insects that, cling to the stems of the plants. 
