The Way of a Covey
July thunderstorms—by the downpour, not the electricity—are held to be the cardinal enemy of the partridge coveys ; but the cutting of the oats, now nearly completed, has revealed the strength of many coveys ; and a good year is expected both for partridges and yet more surely for grouse. A curious tale is told me of the reactions of a covey to the aeroplane. A low plane came over a feeding covey_ which took no notice whatever, but when the plane turned and came back over the same place every bird crouched into invisibility, standing up directly the plane had passed. The same observer once saw a covey vigorously attack one of their family that had been wounded by a poacher. I have seen rooks do the same thing. Have they an instinct to put the sufferer out of its misery ?
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