Bethel, Maine.
1907.
Jan'y 30
(No 2)
Partridge tracks at the bottom showing that the Partridge
had been able to make frequent if not continuous
use of its own feet. That its progress had been more
or less assisted by the Hawk was indicated by the
occasional imprints of the latter's big, broad wings on
both sides of the furrow. In several places there showed
with remarkable distinctness the outlines of the wide-spread
primary quills. The size and shape of the wing prints
indicated a large Gos-hawk, no doubt a female.
Every few yards the trail ended to begin again a 
little further on. It was not wholly lost over the
intervening spaces for even here the snow showed marks
of the Hawk's wings and occasionally of its tail
feathers, also. Curiously enough there were no feathers,
nor blood spots nor any obvious signs of struggle anywhere
along this interrupted trail. Indeed had it not been
for the unusual depth of the furrow and for the
unmistakeable marks of the Hawk's wings I should
have concluded that the Partridge had alternately
waded through and flitted over the snow to
the point where the trail ended and that it had
there been seized and carried up into the pine
by the Hawk. In this connection I may note that
Henry Lawrence told me that a Goshawk which he
shot at Concord last November & which is now in
my collection dealt very awkwardly with one of his
roosters which it had pounced upon in the road near
his house. After riding this fowl about for several
minutes and plucking a quantity of feathers from its
back it left it lying prostrate on the ground. The
rooster was so slightly injured that it quickly recovered
its full strength & vigor.
Goshawk & Partridge