NATURALISTS CABINET. 



Instinctive sagacity. 



lates that " as he was once hunting with a young 

 pointer, the dog ran on a brood of very small 

 partridges. The old bird cried, fluttered, and 

 ran tumbling along just before the dog's nose, till 

 she had drawn him to a considerable distance ; 

 when she took wing and flew farther off, but not 

 out of the field. On this the dog returned nearly to 

 the place where the young ones lay concealed in 

 the grass j which the old bird no sooner perceived, 

 than she flew back again, settled just before the 

 dog's nose, and a second time acted the same part, 

 rolling and tumbling about till she drew off his 

 attention from her brood, and thus succeeded in 

 preserving them." This gentleman says also, that 

 when a kite was once hovering over a covey of 

 young partridges, he saw the old birds fly up at 

 the ferocious enemy, screaming and fighting with 

 all their might to preserve their brood. 



The eggs of the partridge are frequently de- 

 stroyed by weesels, stoats, crows, magpies, and 

 other animals. When this has been the case, 

 the fern ale frequently makes another nest and lays 

 afresh. The produce of these second hatchings 

 are those small birds that are not perfectly 

 feathered in the tail till the beginning of October. 

 This is always a puny, sickly race; and the indi- 

 viduals seldom outlive the rigours of the winter. 



Those partridges which are hatched under a 

 domestic hen, are said to retain through life the 

 habit of calling whenever they hear the clucking 

 of hens. 





