When an observant local telephoned and began to describe a single strange bird he had encountered, we knew before he finished the kind of unique fowl which was lurking on the outskirts of LeSueur. Shyly esconsed beneath a row of blue spruce, the beautiful bird tried to dissolve into the high grass. However, bold black bands on its flanks, plus red eyes, red beak and legs of the same color, gave its identification away. This was, no doubt, an escaped prisoner, a refugee from a game farm, for CHUKAR PARTRIDGES are not native to North America, rather, are immigrants from Asia and the Mid-east. Now at home in our southwest, they inhabit brush cover and arid regions, rather than our woods and prairies. They usually travel in coveys, rather than solitary souls. Our informant brought birdseed along, and sprinkled a generous quantity in the area of the bird, hoping to give the welcome visitor an edge on our Minnesota winter. This bird is named for its spring call, "Chuk, chuk, Chukar!" One never knows what one may spy in "them thar hills." Thanks, Charlie!