A female bird hanging dead by the neck, disembowelled.

December 15. 

December 15, 2017

Within a day or two, I saw another partridge in the snare of November 28th, frozen stiff. 

To-day I see that some creature has torn and disembowelled it, removing it half a rod, leaving the head in snare, which has lifted it three or four feet in the air on account of its lightness. 

This last bird was either a female or young male, its ruff and bar on tail being rather dark-brown than black.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 15, 1857

A female or young male, its ruff and bar on tail being rather dark-brown than black. See November 28, 1857 ("A male bird hanging dead by the neck. . . had a collar or ruff about its neck, of large and conspicuous black feathers with a green reflection. This black is peculiar to the male, the female's being brown. . . .The tail-feathers had each a broad black bar, except the middle one, which was more mixed or grayish there. The bands of the females are said to be more brown, as is their collar.") See also A Book of the Seasons,  by Henry Thoreau, the Partridge