OF NATURE, 



211 



HEN-PARTRIDGE. 



A hen partridge came out of a ditch, and 

 ran along shivering with her wings, and 

 crying out as if wounded and unable to get 

 from us. While the dam acted this dis- 

 tress, the boy who attended me saw her 

 brood, that was small and unable to fly, 

 run for shelter into an old fox-earth under 

 the bank. So wonderful a power is in- 

 stinct. White. 



It is not uncommon to see an old par- 

 tridge feign itself wounded and run along 

 on the ground fluttering and crying before 

 either dog or man, to draw them away 

 from its helpless unfledged young ones. I 

 have seen it often, and once in particular I 

 saw a remarkable instance of the old bird's 

 solicitude to save its brood. As I was hunt- 

 ing with a young pointer, the dog ran on a 

 brood of very small partridges; the old bird 

 cried, fluttered, and ran tumbling along 

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