Concord, Mass.
"The Farm"
1900
May 28
(No 2)
  The most interesting experience of the day was meeting
with a hen Partridge accompanied by her brood of 10 young about 4 days old.
I came upon her suddenly among thin birches at the foot
of the lane on the farm. She rose within ten feet of me,
flew slowly about ten yards, dropped on the ground &
lay prostrate beating her wings feebly but incessantly making
all the while a plaintive, shrill e-e-e-eeee, e-e-e-eeee
- a sort of hissing whine. Knowing that she must have young
I scanned the spot from which she had risen with the 
utmost care. At first I could see nothing but thin
withered grass & scattered birch leaves. Then by degrees I
made out the young standing (not squatting) perfectly
motionless in the clusters or bushes a foot or so apart.
No sooner had I done this than they, evidently recognising
the fact that they were discovered, started off in every 
direction running very swiftly & peeping feebly like young 
chickens. Most of them stopped & sqatted suddenly under
leaves or tufts of grass after going a rod or two but one
kept on until he came to a stone wall into which he
plunged headlong. I kept on over a knoll & sat down.
In less than a minute after I had done this the hen
Partridge ceased whining and with firm rapid steps
walked directly to the spot where I had first flushed
her. The next minute she began calling auk, auk, auk
almost exactly like a White-bellied Nuthatch. Almost 
immediately the young appeared from their hiding places
and scudded in silence to their anxious mother. It
was a pretty sight to see them rejoin her so quickly
& confidently, but unfortunately I could not see just what
they or she did when they rushed her as a bush intervened.
She ceased calling in less than two minutes after she began.
A minute later I went to the spot but the whole family had disappeared.
A hen
Partridge
with young.
105