Pheasants, beside partridges, are stupid mothers: nor have young
pheasants anything like the common sense of young partridges. The
mother partridge is the most careful mother, and by example soon
teaches her young ones to use their wings. One hears the old partridges
calling all through the day to their young; but the little pheasants
must fight their own battles with less encouragement, and look after
themselves. One may see a hen pheasant leading her brood towards a
dike, over which it is obvious they are not strong enough to pass.
But without a look to see if they follow her or not, she flits across;
then, finding that a few are with her, having managed the passage, she
hurries on, as if she had not a thought for those left behind. They
do their best to follow, only to fall into the water, in which they
are drowned, or, if the dike is dry, to become exhausted in their vain
efforts to scale the steep sides.
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