178 
NATURE NOTES. 
ing herself, she followed her mate, and both alighting in a field of standing corn, 
I, of course, lost sight of them. I at once returned to the hayfield, and told my 
brother and cousin and his men what I had seen, and asked if the partridge was 
not carrying her young. The men told me that there had been for some days 
young partridges in the paddock, but that when the parents flew away in cases 
like this, the youngsters would always hide away, and no one could ever find 
them. I then returned to the paddock, measured the above distances, and looked 
to see if any young birds had been dislodged by what I then thought was the 
mother’s fall. There were none to be found, and I take it that the following ex- 
planation is the right one. When the grass was cut the parents and young ran 
into the hedge. At the time that I entered the paddock they were all out picking 
about ; the hen bird called her young together as quickly as she could ; before 
rising she told them to hold on to her, as they did, between her under feathers, 
with beak and feet. One little one was away, and her mother stooped in her 
flight and picked it up. * 
Clifton. Giles A. Daubeny. 
The Brown Owl. — In a quiet Buckinghamshire garden a large brown owl 
may be seen almost any fine evening about eight o’clock, while in the summer it is 
still quite light, flying silently over the house, followed by a number of little birds. 
This appearance of the owl is the signal for quite a chorus of alarm-notes, star- 
lings, swallows, blackbirds, robins and sparrows immediately set up a series of 
shrill remonstrances, which they keep up after the noiseless fluffy “ round-head” 
has disappeared. One evening, about 7.30, this same owl sat in the plum-tree 
opposite the house. It was so still that I tliought I was mistaken in thinking that 
there was an owl there until I went under the tree. There — with grave blinking 
eyes, and wings drooped so close that it looked quite long and lank — sat the 
“pussy” owl. One step nearer, and he thought I meant mischief and silently 
flew over the house. 
Hiikote, near Aylesbury. A. W. Harte. 
A Brave Tbrusb. — Within the last few days I have witnessed undaunted 
bravery on the part of a thrush. One day I saw it standing about three feet from 
my cat (which was stretched at full length on the lawn, enjoying the sunshine), 
keeping up a constant chatter, evidently scolding puss, who lay with her eyes 
shut, pretending not to see the bird ; you could only tell that she knew it was there 
by her ears, which were put back. The bird kept his position for some time, and 
when he did move he still continued his scolding. The cat never offered to touch 
him, and I observed the bird repeat this whenever puss appeared on the lawn, 
and one day when she walked across the lawn this thrush positively ran after her. 
I saw him do it. The cause of this conduct was explained to me when I saw one 
day Si young thrush come from under a wide spreading “ seringa.” 
Carishrooke. E. Pryce Sayer. 
Our Tame Rooks. — We are rather proud of the friendliness of our rooks 
in this part of Hampshire. We began our rookery with a few stray couples about 
twelve years ago ; they built in the oak trees near the stables, but gradually came 
nearer to the house as they found themselves unmolested. We have been 
repeatedly warned that they would leave us if we did not shoot their young, but 
that, of course, to life-long humanitarians was impossible. So far, our numbers 
increase rapidly, and evidently think with us, that the more the merrier. With 
autumn storms our rooks desert us at night, but many of them return by day to 
share our bounty with the other wild birds, and come quite near to the house, 
often swooping down on the “ bird table ” (a board on a pole), and taking food 
therefrom on the wing. In snow lime w’e boil whole saucepans of potatoes 
especially for them. Just alter the rooks returned to their old nests this year we 
decamped with all our movable possessions to a house a mile away' across country, 
and left the old abode in the hands of builders ; especially stipulating that the 
rooks should not be disturbed. Whether the birds doubted the kindness of the 
work-people, or whether they missed their friends and spied out their retreat, 
it is impossible to say, but two couples followed us, built in the elms close to 
this house, and have each reared two nestlings. Three or four times a day 
