58 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



The common partridge is no less conspicuous for 

 courage in defence of its offspring. Records have been 

 made of partridges attacking foes so formidable as foxes, 

 dogs, stoats, and weasels. On occasion, instead of open 

 battle one or both parents will feign lameness, and thereby 

 endeavour to lure the enemy from the neighbourhood of 

 the nestlings, which, by admonitions, soon scatter widely, 

 and if the alarm-notes of the parents continue will then 

 lie close, concealed by the likeness of their coloration 

 to their surroundings. Usually, when foraging for food, 

 the male runs ahead, and stands for a few moments survey- 

 ing everything. If all is well, he goes on, uttering a low 

 " zut-zut" while the female, crouching low, follows with 

 the brood, seeking seeds and insects at every step. To 

 what lengths some birds will go in the defence of their 

 young is well illustrated by the case of a wild duck {Anas 

 boscas), which came under the notice of Sir Ralph Payne- 

 Gallway. A farm-boy, so the story runs, fell in with a 

 brood of ducklings and drove them before him to Lord 

 Cavan's lodge, the mother following after, and keeping 

 close the whole way. He drove them into the yard, 

 and into a shed, but even here the undaunted mother 

 followed, and in spite of the presence of dogs and 

 people ! 



More striking still is the chain of events witnessed during 

 the summer of 1909 by Miss E. L. Turner, whose reputation 

 as an ornithologist removes any doubt as to possible 

 errors of interpretation. On the occasion in question she 

 was endeavouring to secure photographs of the final 

 stages of incubation of a pair of water-rails. The story 

 opens when the female returned to the nest, and, " seizing 

 one of the already chipped eggs (chipped by the egg- 

 tooth of the enclosed embryo, preparatory to its escape), 



