possess, and you would have known the young birds
from their parents by their tender yellow legs and
dark-coloured bills.

The story of this timid family, or covey, as it is
generally called, would be much as follows : —

It was in the cold spring days that the father and
mother fell in love with each other, and thought
nothing would be so nice’ as to live together all the
sweet summer days, and bring up a pretty family of
baby partridges. This question settled, they next
found out a cosy corner ina sunny hedge-row,
where they settled to make their nest; and as they
required but little furniture in the shape of walls or
feather beds, it was soon ready. The mother part-
ridve then began to lay about a dozen eggs, and
after sitting upon them till she was quite tired, had
the delight of seeing herself surrounded by such a
pretty Hock of little chickens that she was ready to
sing for joy, only singing was not one of her accom-
plishments. But day and night she and her partner
watched and tended them with loving hearts.

Once she espied a wicked weasel creeping up to
her pets, but before he could seize one she had flown
at him and beaten him about the head with such
violence with her wings that he was only too glad to
find himself back in his own hole, with nothing worse
than a black eye and a shocking bad headache.

On another occasion the farmer to whom the field
belonged suddenly came upon her, just after her
little ones were hatched. As he was too big to fly
at she tried another plan, and that was to decoy him
away from the spot. Falling down only a few paces
before him, she began to flutter and tumble about,
so that, thinking she must have a broken wing, he
rushed forward to catch her in his hand. But she
was too quick for that, and continuing to flutter on
at a short though safe distance, she managed to
draw hin away from her young. When she thought
all danger of his discovering her treasure was over
she quietly mounted into the air and flew off, and
then he saw what a clever trick she had played him.

Partridge life must be very pleasant until the Ist
of September, but then all is changed. On that
day, as you know, partridge-shooting begins, and
from early morning until nightfall parties of sports-
men carrying guns, and attended by dogs called
pointers, roam about the stubbles, bean-tields, and
turnips, in quest of coveys. ‘The dogs generally dis-
cover them first, and their masters observing them
stand quite still, like the one in the picture, know at
once that they have found something. ‘The family
lie close as long as they dare, but when the dogs or
the sportsmen come too near, up they all get, with
that terrible whirr you must recollect if you have
ever startled them yourself. Bang! bang! go the
guns, and two or three of their number come flut-
tering down to the ground, and are soon found by
the dogs and put into the keeper’s bag.

It is said the partridges can be tamed and made
sociable pets; in fact, there is an old tradition that
the holy Apostle St. John, in his extreme old age,
used to take pleasure in petting a favourite partridge
(most likely one of the red-legged species); and if
any one hinted to him that such a plaything was
beneath his dignity, he would answer with a smile,
that ‘the bow must be unbent sometimes’ H.H

 

WHAT BECAME OF
LORD LOVEL?
ORD LOVEL, of Minster Lovel in

Oxfordshire, was a zealous supporter
of the Yorkist party in the Wars: of
Roses, and when Henry VIL (of
the Lancaster) came to the throne at
the defeat and death of Richard III,
of course Lord Lovel was one of those
regarded with extreme dislike by the
“new king. Lovel was not seized and
put to death, because, like Joab of old,
he fled for refuge to a sanctuarys—that
of Colchester.

The king respected the sanctuary, and did not try
to drag Lovel away. However, when Henry was
on his journey to York, whither he went to show
himself and make his person popular, Lord Lovel
escaped from Colchester, and, putting himself at
the head of a body of Yorkists, awaited the king’s
approach, somewhere between York and Middleham.
On second thoughts, however, he did not think his
party, strong enough then for anything important,
and he therefore told them to disperse. After this
Lovel fled to the sea-coast and made his escape to
Flanders.

Soon after this a very curious event happened,
which gave King Henry much anxiety. One day a
priest, accompanied by a very handsome youth,
landed at Dublin. The priest, who was a very
clever speaker, declared the youth was Edward
Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, son of the late Duke
of Clarence, and the true heir to the throne. The
priest’s story was so well backed up by the beha-
viour of the youth, that the Irish people were quite
persuaded it was all true.

It was known in Ireland that King Henry had
confined the young earl to the Tower for State
reasons ; but the priest invented a story of Edward’s
escape in some extraordinary manner, and as the
house of York was very popular in Ireland it was
all believed, and the great Earl of Kildare clasped
the boy to his bosom, and swore he would die for
him as the undoubted king of the islands.

And very soon the boy was crowned in the
Cathedral, and as they had no proper crown for
the ceremony, they took a golden coronet from a
statue of the Virgin Mary, and placed’it on Edward’s
head, and he was then saluted in due form as King
Edward the Sixth.

Meanwhile Lord Lovel and the Earl of Lincoln,
another devoted Yorkist, sent over to Ireland a
number of veteran German soldiers, under the com-
mand of a very able and gallant captain, Martin
Swart.

The arrival of these men at Dublin seems to have
encouraged the Earl of Kildare to venture on the
extremely bold step of invading England. A num-

 

ber of ships were freighted, and, after crossing the
Channel, the invaders landed near Furness Abbey.
King Henry, having placed his wife, his infant
son, and his mother, in the strong castle of Kenil-
worth, marched to meet the invading host at the
head of a numerous army.
Meanwhile the Earl. of Lincoln and Lord Lovel