The thickness of the foliage on the trees, the high vegetation of the
cultivated land, and the natural tendency of young birds to keep quiet
and still, make the study of them a matter of some difficulty. In the
hedgerows and by the wood-sides unfamiliar notes and calls of birds are
constantly heard--the notes of young birds, which cannot be identified
owing to the thickness of the foliage, and though in the large woods
the cry of the young sparrow hawks and the flight of the pigeons and
woodpeckers betray their presence, it is almost impossible to watch
them, or to ascertain their way of procuring food. Probably most of the
larger species are fed by the old birds long after they leave the nest.
Of game birds, young partridges are the most self-reliant, and young
pheasants the least able to take care of themselves. The present
writer has never seen young quails, but as those coveys which are
hatched in England often number as many birds as the quail usually
lay eggs, it may be presumed that these, the smallest of all the
game birds, are not less active and precocious than the young of the
partridge. The latter are almost as active upon land as young wild
ducks are upon the water. They run swiftly and without hesitation,
even among thick vegetation, when they are no bigger than a wren, and
follow or precede their mother through mowing grass, hedgerows, or the
sides of furze breaks and copses, seeking and catching insects all the
while, and neither losing themselves nor betraying their whereabouts by
unnecessary noise or excursions.