MORE ABOUT GAME-BIRDS. 117 



My musings on these matters of an ancient period 

 have quite taken my thoughts from the coveys, but 

 the birds have reappeared, they are only a very 

 little way off where I first caught sight of them, 

 and they are quietly feeding just as before. Sud- 

 denly there is a challenge from the old cock and 

 a shriek or two from the hen, and the birds have 

 rapidly vanished, squatting somewhere or other by 

 the sides of stones, close to thistle clumps, or in 

 hollows caused by horses' feet and the cart-wheels. 



A long-tailed bird flashes over the field, crosses 

 it in fact. Pouncing down midway in its flight, 

 it misses its stroke and goes over the hedge that 

 runs alongside the covers. The birds are much 

 alarmed, they are calling loudly, and I catch a 

 glimpse of some of them running at full speed to 

 gain the shelter of the hedgerow. Once more the 

 beautiful pursuer shows herself in the shape of a 

 fine specimen of an old grey-brown hen sparrow- 

 hawk. She has just shot up over the hedge, to 

 intercept if possible one at least of those partridges 

 which are rushing into it. I can see her through 

 my glass, as for one moment she hangs in the 

 air, a perfect picture of bird life, her head turned 



