136 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



The sharp-rayed track of the partridge adds 

 another figure to the fantastic embroidery upon 

 the winter snow. Her course is a clear, strong 

 line, sometimes quite wayward, but generally very 

 direct, steering for the densest, most impene- 

 trable places, — leading you over logs and through 

 brush, alert and expectant, till, suddenly, she 

 bursts up a few yards from you, and goes hum- 

 ming through the trees, — the complete triumph 

 of endurance and vigor. Hardy native bird, may 

 your tracks never be fewer, or your visits to the 

 birch-tree less frequent ! 



