AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
187 
rain will quiet a covey of partridges, and make the scat- 
tered birds lie well; but a blustering wind will excite them 
constantly to motion, and drive them into the depth of 
swamps and thickets, w r hen, during the former, they will 
only perhaps remain on the edges of bush-land, and 
under the most convenient cover: therefore, 
On a favourable day, such as I have described, you must 
seek the birds at all hours in wheat or rye stubble fields, 
or those covered with high weeds or Indian grass, should 
feeding ground be near; but should the sun shine, and the 
day prove warm, it is more than probable towards noon 
the coveys may seek some neighbouring cover until feed- 
ing time in the afternoon; of this, however, you must 
judge for yourself. 
On a windy day it is useless to hunt the fields, unless, 
indeed, these should be covered with high grass, and other 
cover not be at hand, as you will more certainly find the 
birds in some copse, thicket, swamp or hedge row, and 
nearly always to the leeward side. 
I do not, however, advocate wet days for hunting, but 
would advise you not to depart in a rain, unless indeed it 
should be near the close of a protracted storm, which, if 
you intend an excursion for several days, will be perhaps 
the most propitious period for starting, as fine weather 
will certainly succeed. But should a moderate I'ain over- 
take you while in the fields, and your prospect of game 
be flattering, I certainly, (if your constitution is good,) 
would favour the prosecution of your enterprise, rather 
than you should return home. 
A man who contemplates pursuing field sports, must 
not be frightened at a little bad weather, nor a wet skin, 
neither must he be chicken-hearted if he should now and 
then sink waist deep in water or mire, or have his gar- 
ments torn from his person; these are consequences always 
attending a sportsman, and he must make up his mind 
to suffer patiently from hunger and thirst, wet and 
cold. 
If, on beating for game in a district where you know 
these birds exist, you should be unsuccessful, you must 
endeavour to ascertain the reasons; these maybe from the 
following: first, the foregoing causes of wind and rain may 
have effected this change; secondly, birds shot at and 
worried repeatedly, will frequently move off to other 
places to avoid persecution ; thirdly, hawks are very de- 
structive to partridges, and their appearance will drive a 
covey of birds into thestrongestfastness, where they will re- 
main from morning until calling time at sunset; and fourth- 
ly, as they approach maturity, and cover for them is lessened 
in consequence of the departure of vegetation, they are 
inclined to wander over a greater extent of feeding ground, 
and a covey which may be found in a particular field to- 
day, may not visit this spot again for a week, from these 
variety of causes: the young sportsman must make his 
calculations, and see the necessity of hunting faithfully 
every inch of ground without being discouraged. If you 
are on high ground and find no birds, take a survey of 
the country around you, and then depart for the most 
likely places; the most indubitable evidence of the pre- 
sence of these birds, (next to ocular proof,) is the heaps 
of newty-made dung, which abound through their favour- 
ite feeding grounds; for hither at night they will always 
return, let their wanderings be what they may through the 
day time, and no spot must be left untried when this 
evidence is before you, as the birds, rest assured, are not 
far distant. 
Should you commence your campaign early in the 
season, (that is, in October,) you will very likely encoun- 
ter coveys of unfledged birds and others not half grown; 
these of course you must avoid destroying, and pass on in 
search of others; but the danger here is, that you may un- 
heedfully shoot the old birds, and thus by leaving their 
progeny destitute of parental care, destroy the whole brood. 
It is to be regretted that there are those who feel no qualm- 
ishness on the subject, and will indiscriminately destroy 
every partridge they meet with, whether in full grown 
coveys, or during incubation, or at the most interesting 
period of fostering their young; but is this manlike? 
nay, humanity knows no such feelings as would deprive 
the unfledged and helpless young of the protection na- 
ture has provided; with care, however, you may avoid 
this, for so soon as the parents of a young brood take 
wing, they will give evidence of the fact by the manner 
of their flight; if the brood is very young, and hatched but 
a day or two, the mother will suffer you to approach with- 
in a few feet before she will move, and her flight will be 
only a short distance, while the male bird will evince his 
solicitude by running through the grass around you, and 
making a chuckling cry of distress; at this time the mother 
generally has the whole brood under cover of her wings. 
Should the young birds have been produced a week or two, 
the old birds will rise much sooner than in the former 
case, but will fly only a short distance and settle again on 
the ground; and in each case the flight mostly will be ac- 
companied by a twittering cry, and the flight irregular and 
slow, and with but little of that whirring sound which 
usually accompanies the motion of their wings; in these in- 
stances the parents are leading their young, and scratching 
about to instruct them how to feed. 
When the young are nearly half grown, and able to shift 
for themselves, the parent birds will always rise first, 
after which the whole brood will accompany them, utter- 
ing their feeble cries for a considerable time. 
