268 A DESCRIPTION OF 
Partridges for their offspring is peculiarly interesting. 
Both the parents lead them out to feed ; they point out to 
them the proper places for their food, and assist them in 
finding it by scratching the ground with their feet. They 
frequently sit close together, covering the young ones 
with their wings; and from this protection they are not 
easily roused. If, however, they are disturbed, most peo- 
ple acquainted with rural affairs know the confusion that 
ensues. The male gives the first signal of alarm, by a 
peculiar cry of distress ; throwing himself at the same mo- 
ment more immediately into the way of danger, in order 
to mislead the enemy. He flutters along the ground, 
hanging his wings, and exhibiting every symptom of de- 
bility. By this stratagem he seldom fails of so far attract- 
ing the attention of the intruder as to allow the female to 
conduct the helpless unfledged brood into some place of 
security. Their nest is usually on the ground ; but on 
the farm of Lion Hall, in Essex, belonging to Colonel 
Hawker, a Partridge, in the year 1788, formed her nest, 
and hatched sixteen eggs, on the top of a pollard oak-tree! 
What renders this circumstance the more remarkable is, 
that the tree had, fastened to it, the bars of a stile, where 
there was a footpath ; and the passengers, in going over, 
discovered and disturbed her before she sat close. When 
the brood was hatched, the birds scrambled down the 
short and rough boughs, which grew out all around the 
trunk of the tree, and reached the ground in safety. It 
has long been a received opinion among sportsmen, as 
well as among naturalists, that the female Partridge has 
none of the bay feathers of the breast like the male. This, 
however, is a mistake ; for, Mr. Montagu happening to 
kill nine birds in one day, with very little variation as to 
the bay mark on the breast, he was led to open them all, 
and discovered that five of them were females. On care- 
fully examining the plumage, he found that the males 
could only be known by the superior brightness of colour 
