UPLAND SHOOTING. 
83 
sons at four weeks, when the eggs were placed under the 
domestic Hen. The young leave the nest as soon as they are 
freed from the shell, and are conducted about in search of food 
by the female; are guided by her voice, which, at that time, 
resembles the twittering of young chickens, and sheltered by 
her wings in the same manner as the domestic fowl, but with 
all that secrecy and precaution for their safety which their 
helplessness and greater danger require. In this situation, 
should the little timid family be unexpectedly surprised, the 
utmost alarm and consternation prevails. The mother throws 
herself in the path, fluttering along and beating the ground with 
her wings, as if sorely wounded, using every artifice she is master 
of to entice the passenger in pursuit of herself, uttering at the 
same time certain peculiar notes of alarm, well understood by 
the young, who dive separately amongst the grass, and secrete 
themselves until the danger is over, and the parent, having 
decoyed the pursuer to a safe distance, returns by a circuitous 
route to collect and lead them off. This well known manoeuvre, 
which nine times in ten is successful, is honorable to the feel¬ 
ings and judgment of the bird, but a severe satire on man. 
The affectionate mother, as if sensible of the avaricious 
cruelty of his nature, tempts him with a larger prize to save 
her more helpless offspring, and pays him as avarice and cruelty 
ought always to be paid, with mortification and disappointment. 
u The eggs of the Quail have been frequently placed under 
the domestic Hen, and hatched and reared with equal success 
as her own, though generally speaking, the young Partridges, 
being more restless and vagrant, often lose themselves and 
disappear. The Hen ought to be a particular good nurse, not 
at all disposed to ramble, in which case they are very easily 
raised. Those that survive acquire all the familiarity of com¬ 
mon Chickens, and there is little doubt that if proper measures 
were taken and persevered in for a few years, they might be 
completely domesticated. They have been often kept during 
the first season and through the whole of that winter, but have 
uniformly deserted in the spring. Two young Partridges that 
