Snipe Quail or Partridge

Snipe They are perhaps the most difficult to shoot of all our birds, as they fly in sudden zigzag lines, and very rapidly. Quail or Partridge Should the little timid family be unexpectedly surprised, the utmost alarm and consternation instantly prevail. 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 till 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 maneuver, which nine times in ten is successful, is honourable to the feelings and judgement 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 larger prize, to save her more helpless offspring; and pays him, as avarice and cruelty ought always to be paid, with mortification and disappointment.