EMOTIONS OF A RED PARTRIDGE 101

mamma partridge had so often led her
brood in the sunshine, where we used
to jump about pecking at the little red
worms that climbed up our claws, and
where we met conceited little pheasants
who would not play with us.

I see as in a dream my little alley at
a moment when a roe crossed it, poised
on its delicate feet, its great eyes wide
open, in attitude to leap. Then the
pool where we would go, a party of
fifteen to thirty, all in one flight, rising
from the plain at the same moment, to
drink water at the spring and splash
ourselves with the drops that rolled off
our shining feathers. There was in
the middle of that pool a cluster of
very thick alders, and it was in this
island we now took refuge. The dogs
must have sharp noses indeed that
could find us out there. We had been
there but a moment when a roebuck
arrived, dragging himself on three feet,
and leaving a red stain on the moss
behind him. It was so sad to watch