AITECTIOlfS OP BISDS. 153 



SO about that town in the autumn, that he kiUed sixteen 

 himself in one afternoon : he added farther, that some had 

 appeared since in every autumn ; but he could not find that 

 any had been observed before the season in which he shot 

 so many. I myself have foimd these birds iu little parties ia 

 the autumn, cantoned all along the Sussex downs, wherever 

 there were shrubs and bushes, from Chichester to Lewes ; 

 particularly iu the autumn of 1770. 



LETTER LII. 



TO THE HON. BAIIfES BABEINGTON. 



Selborne, March 26, 1773. 

 Deae Sib, — The more I reflect on the a-Topyfi, or natural 

 affection of animals, the more I am astonished at its efiects. 

 Nor is the violence of its afiection more wonderful than the 

 shortness of its duration.* Thus every hen is in her turn 

 the virago of the yard, iu proportion to the helplessness of 

 her brood; and will fly in the face of a dog or a sow in 

 defence of those chickens, which in a few weeks she wUi 

 drive before her with relentless cruelty. 



This afiection sublimes the passions, quickens the inven- 

 tion, and sharpens the sagacity of the brute creation. Thus 

 an hen, just become a mother, is no longer that placid bird 

 she used to be ; but, with feathers standing on end, wings 

 hovering, and clucking note, she runs about like one pos-- 

 sessed. Dams will throw themselves in the way of the 

 greatest danger in order to avert it from their progeny. 

 Thus a partridge will tumble along before a sportsman, in 

 order to draw away the dogs from her helpless covey. In 

 the time of nidification, the most feeble birds will assault the 



* There are two well authenticated instances on record of bustards attack- 

 ing men on horseback at night, when their haunts have been invaded, and 

 probably in defence of their young. One instance is mentioned on his own 

 knowledge by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in his History of Wilts, and the other, 

 I think, by Mr. Gilpin. — Ed. 



