310 HINTS TO ORNITHOLOGISTS* 
I know at once, that, somewhere or other, she has 
a nest of hungry little ones to provide for ; and that 
she is on the look-out for eggs, or for young birds, 
to supply their wants: and then I tell her I feel 
sorry from my heart, that the pressing duty of pro- 
viding for a large and ravenous family should ex- 
pose her to the eternal enmity of man ; knowing full 
well that, at other seasons of the year, she is a real 
benefactress to him, by clearing his fields of a world 
of insects, which feed upon their produce. 
For reasons unknown to us, the birds are parti- 
cularly vociferous, both at early dawn, and at the 
fail of night. But when I hear the partridge utter- 
ing its well-known call in the middle of the day, I 
comprehend at once, that it either sees bad company 
close at hand, in the shape of cats or weasels, of 
that its brood 'has been surprised and dispersed by 
some intruder; and that the individuals of the 
covey are then calling to each other, from the 
place of their retreat, in order that they may all 
meet again in some more secure and more sheltered 
quarter. 
This knowledge of the habits of birds, which at 
once lets you into their little secrets, is only to be 
obtained by a constant attention to the notes and 
the habits of the feathered tribes in the open air. 
It can never be learned in the solitude of the closet. 
Those naturalists who pass nearly the whole of 
their time in their study have it not in their 
power to produce a work of real merit. On the 
contrary, it too often happens that they do (most 
unintentionally, no doubts a great deal of harm to 
