Article February 25, 1905 Issue

A Parallel from Nature

LEWIS C. STRANG.

Naturalists report that the young of partridges, bred in districts in England where a certain kind of clay abounds, suffer from a peculiar misfortune known as the "balling." Perhaps the chick gets one of its feet wet. A small lump of the clay, possibly no bigger than the head of a pin, adheres to the foot. Thus the mischief begins, for, as the chick wanders about in search of food, the small lump adds to itself more clay, until the soil attached to the foot of the little partridge may increase from a mere speck to a mass weighing several ounces.

The incumbrance, trodden constantly under foot and baked by the sun, becomes of brick-like hardness, and unless some friendly hand comes to the rescue, the fate of a "balled" partridge is pitiful. Day by day the burden gains in size and weight, as the chick scrambles with dragging foot after its fellows, until at length it is unable to move at all.

Very often, however, the youngsters are found before this extremity overtakes them. The clay is carefully soaked from its foot, and the bird is freed from its incubus. Then another curious phenomenon is noticed. The bird without its accustomed ballast can neither fly nor walk. It tumbles at every attempt, and learns the natural mode of locomotion only after persistent efforts. The little "balled" partridges are usually undersized and physically worn, conditions which quickly disappear after the removal of the accumulation of clay.

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