52 BIRDS AND MAN r 



pursuit — ^then, like lightning, the foremost rabbit 

 doubles back and there is a collision, bitings, and 

 rolling over and over together, and in an instant 

 they are up again, wide apart, racing like mad. 

 Gradually they went farther and farther from 

 the hedge ; and at length chance took them to 

 the very spot on which the partridges had settled, 

 and there for three or four minutes the duel 

 went on. But the birds refused to be turned 

 out of their quarters. The bird that had called 

 still remained standing, expectant, with raised 

 head, as if watching for the appearance of some 

 loiterer, while the others all kept their places. 

 Their quietude in the midst of that whirlwind 

 of battle was wonderful to see. Their only 

 movement was when one of the birds was in 

 a direct line with a flying rabbit, when, if it 

 stayed still, in another moment it would be 

 struck and perhaps killed by the shock ; then 

 it would leap a few inches aside and immediately 

 settle down again. In this way every one of the 

 birds had been forced to move several times 

 before the battle passed on towards the opposite 

 side of the field and left the covey in peace. 

 Social animals, Herbert Spencer truly says. 



