September is generally accounted the finest and most settled month in
the year. The mornings and evenings are cool, but possess a delightful
freshness, while the middle of the day is pleasantly warm and open.
Hence the well-known proverb:


"September blows soft till the fruit's in the loft."


The destruction of the partridge commences with this month, large coveys
of which may now be seen about the stubble fields, and in the corn, if
any be left standing. These birds get very shy towards the end of the
month, in consequence of being repeatedly fired at. Sportsmen,
therefore, prefer the early part of the season, before the birds get too
wild. Partridges, while the corn is standing, have a secure retreat from
their numerous enemies; but when the harvest is gathered in, they resort
in the day-time to groves and covers. At night, however, they return to
the stubble to avoid foxes and weasels, &c., and there nestle together.

The swallow now takes his departure for milder regions, and many other
of the small billed birds that feed on insects disappear when the cold
weather commences. The _throstle_, the _red-wing_, and the _fieldfare_,
which migrated in March, now return; and the _ring-ouzel_ arrives from
the Welsh and Scottish Alps to winter in more sheltered situations. All
these birds feed upon berries, of which there is a plentiful supply,
in our woods, during a great part of their stay. The throstle and the
red-wing are delicate eating. The Romans kept thousands of them together
in aviaries, and fed them with a sort of paste made of bruised figs and