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■ii^n 


.^AND 
CARTRIDGE  ^  MANORS 


AYMER 'MAXWELL 


mri'NY,^"^'"^^  OF  B.c 


LIBRARY 


3  9424  00444  7683 


i?^ 


CCESSING-ONE 
U.B.C.  LIBRARY 


THE  LIBRARY 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF 
BRITISH  COLUMBIA 


///J 


PARTRIDGES  &  PARTRIDGE  MANORS 


AGENTS 

America The  Macmillan  Company 

64  &  66  Fifth  Avenue,  New  Yokk 

Australasia.    .     .     .    The  Oxford  University  Press 

205  Flinders  Lane,  Melbourne 

Canada The  Macmillan  Company  of  Canada    Ltd. 

St.  Martin's  Hou.se,  70  Bond  Street  Toronto 

India Macmillan  &  Company,  Ltd. 

Macmillan  Building,  Bombay 
309  Bow  Bazaar  Street,  Calcutta 

Germany,  Austria       '\ 

Hungary,  Russia,  I  Brockhaus  and  Pehr.sson 
Scandinavia,  and  j  10  Querstrasse,  Leipzig 
German  Switzerland  j 


"A  Iatal  Mistake."     A  Covey  Flying  out  to  Sea. 


PAKTRIDGES  AND 
PAETRIDGE  MANORS 


BY 

CAPTAIN   AYMER   MAXWELL     '^ 

JOINT   AUTHOR   OF    '  GROUSE   AND    GROUSE    MOORS  ' 


WITH   SIXTEEN  ILLUSTRATIONS   IN  COLOUR 

BY 

GEORGE    RANKIN 


LONDON 

ADAM   AND   CHARLES   BLACK 

1911 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

University  of  British  Columbia  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/partridgespartriOOmaxw 


PREFACE 

So  steady  is  the  flow  of  sporting  literature, 
so  prolific  has  the  last  decade  proved  in 
works  on  every  branch  of  the  chase,  that 
a  word  of  justification  seems  necessary  ere 
offering  yet  another  volume  to  join  the 
already  serried  ranks  on  those  shelves  of 
the  library  devoted  to  the  subject. 

Perchance  some  may  find,  in  the 
delicate  handiwork  of  our  artist,  sufficient 
excuse  for  all  else  there  is  between  the 
boards^;  yet  the  writer  hopes  that,  while 
there  may  be  nothing  in  these  pages 
which  has  not  been  said  as  well  or  better 
before,  yet  in  this  attempt  at  a  mono- 
graph on  the  partridge  and  its  relations 
to  sport  there  may  be  found  for  the  first 
time  a  fair  and  true  summary  of  what  is 


vi  PARTRIDGES 

known   to  -  day  about   the   bird   and   its 
ways. 

In  advancing  this  claim,  the  writer  is 
by  no  means  obhvious  of  Mr.  Charles 
Alhngton's  manual  of  Partridge  Driv- 
ing, a  wholly  admirable  work  which  has 
proved  an  unfailing  source  of  useful 
advice  through  seven  years  of  practical 
application  of  its  principles  on  partridge 
ground.  But  this  is  admittedly  a  book 
written  by  an  expert  for  the  use  of  ex- 
perts, and  for  general  purposes  the  volume 
of  the  *Fur  and  Feather'  series  on  the 
partridge  remains  the  standard  work  on 
the  subject.  While  Mr.  Stuart- Wortley's 
chapters  will  always  be  delightful  reading 
— perhaps  no  writer  on  sport  ever  achieved 
such  facility  and  grace  of  expression — yet 
things  have  moved  apace  in  the  partridge 
world  since  this  book  was  pubUshed  fifteen 
years  ago,  and  modern  methods  of  pre- 
servation differ  vastly  from  those  then 
in  force. ^ 

'  For  example,  on   page  33  of  this  work  occurs  the 
sentence,    *'  Certainly   it    is    best   that    the   majority   of 


PREFACE  vii 

Due  acknowledgment  should  here  be 
made  of  assistance  received  in  compiling 
these  pages ;  especially  would  the  writer 
confess  his  indebtedness  to  the  Duchess 
of  Bedford  for  courteously  supplying  the 
notes  on  foreign  partridges  at  Woburn 
Abbey  in  Chapter  II.  ;  to  Mr.  C.  AUing- 
ton  for  the  valuable  information  and  ad- 
vice in  his  letters ;  to  Mr.  G.  W.  Taylor 
for  allowing  him  the  benefit  of  a  wide 
knowledge  and  experience  by  revising  and 
correcting  the  chapter  on  Driving ;  and, 
finally,  to  the  many  kind  and  ready 
contributors  of  the  notes  in  Chapter  V. 

partridge  nests  should  escape  attention  altogether."  In 
a  text-book  of  to-day  this  sentence  would  have  to  be  re- 
worded^ and  would  then  read,  ''  Certainly  it  is  best  that 
no  partridge  nest  should  escape  attention  altogether." 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER   I 

IN    DEFENCE    OF    THE    PARTRIDGE 

The  case  for  game -preservers — Interests  of  sport  and 
agriculture  in  this  case  mutual — Economic  value  of 
sport  to  rural  communities — A  plea  for  a  right 
understanding  ......         Page  1 

CHAPTER   n 

NATURAL    HISTORY 

Distribution  and  life-history  of  the  partridge — Red-legged 
partridges — Foreign  varieties  suitable  for  introduction 
— Cookery  of  the  partridge  .         .         .         .17 

CHAPTER   m 

HISTORICAL 

Early  records  of  partridge- shooting — Great  sportsmen 
of  the  eighteenth  century  —  Matches — England  t*. 
Scotland  in  1823,  etc. — Methods  of  other  days    .     61 

CHAPTER   IV 

PRESERVATION    AND    MANAGEMENT 

Partridge  ground,  good  and  bad — Keepers  and  their  work 
— The  various  systems  of  modern  preservation     .     80 

ix 


X  PARTRIDGES 

CHAPTER   V 

BY    MANY    HANDS 

A  series  of  notes  from  many  estates — Summarizing  present- 
day  methods  under  varying  conditions — With  results, 
opinions,  and  suggestions  .         .         .     Page  132 

CHAPTER   VI 

VERMIN 

What  the  real  enemies  of  game  are,  and  how  they  should 
be  dealt  with — What  animals  and  birds  are  unjustly 
included  in  the  list  of  proscription     .         .         .     177 

CHAPTER   Vn 

SHOOTING    THE    PARTRIDGE 

On  partridge-shooting  generally — Guns,  cartridges,  men, 
and  dogs — Shooting  over  dogs — Walking  in  line    208 

CHAPTER   Vm 

PARTRIDGE  -  DRIVING 

The  broad  rules  which  govern  successful  driving — The 
difficulties  which  arise  in  their  application,  and  how 
they  can  be  overcome — Beaters,  flankers,  and  guns, 
their  right  disposition  and  duties  —  The  cost  of 
driving 239 

CHAPTER   IX 

OLD    MICHAELMAS    DAY  .  .      290 

CHAPTER   X 

STATISTICAL 

Some  records  in  Britain  —  Partridges  abroad  —  Austria, 
Hungary,  and  Belgium      .....     808 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FACING   PAGE 

1.  'A   Fatal  Mistake'— A  Covey  flying  out 

to  Sea  .....   Frontispiece 

2.  Partridge  and  Young        .         .         .         .  \Q 

3.  French  Partridge      .         .         .  .         .  33 

4.  ^Jugging' 48 

5.  Partridges  on  Wing  .         ...         65 

6.  (1)  Good  Nesting  Ground;  (2)  Bad  Nest- 

ing Ground  .....  80 

7.  A  Time-honoured  Custom — Partridge  and 

Pheasant  using  same  Nest   .  .         .129 

8.  ^ Ware  Chase' 144 

9.  ^Vermin'  .         .  .  .  .         .177 

10.  ^ Their   worst    Enemy' — Hen-house   and 

Poultry  on  Stubble  Field     .         .         .192 

11.  (1)    The    Right   Shot;    (2)    The  Wrong 

Shot 209 

12.  ^Towered'       ......       224 

13.  Retriever  on  Wounded  Bird     .         .         .241 

xi 


xii  PARTRIDGES 

FACING   PAGE 

1 4.  The  Last  Drive  of  the  Season  .         .         .       256 

15.  *  The  Valley  of  Death'     .         .         .         .       27S 

16.  '  Partridge  Country '  ....        288 


IN  BLACK  AND  WHITE 


Eight  diagrams  in  the  text. 


PARTRIDGES  AND 
PARTRIDGE    MANORS 

CHAPTER   I 

IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  PARTRIDGE 

The  case  for  game  preservers — Interests  of  sport  and 
agriculture  in  this  case  mutual — Economic  value  of 
sport  to  rural  communities — A  plea  for  a  right 
understanding. 

**  Land  by  the  square  mile  is  thrown  away 
in  profligate  extravagance  upon  stags  and 
pheasants  and  partridges,  and  is  doled  out 
with  miserly  greed  by  the  foot  for  the 
habitations  of  men,  women  and  children." 
This  is  not  a  statement  of  fact — far 
from  it — it  is  merely  a  quotation  from  the 
famous  pulpit  speech  of  the  Chancellor  of 
the  Exchequer  in  the  year  of  grace  1910, 
a   speech   which   the    Rev.    J.    Campbell 


2  PARTRIDGES 

modestly  opined  was  destined  to  live  for 
ever. 

While  this  is  no  place  to  embark  on 
the  stormy  waters  of  political  discussion, 
at  the  same  time  it  would  be  wrong  to 
pass  by  unchallenged  the  many  rash  and 
ill-considered  utterances  to  which  we  are 
now  being  treated,  of  which  the  above 
may  serve  as  a  sample, — utterances  which 
ring  only  too  plausibly  in  the  ears  of 
thousands  who,  having  no  shadow  of 
knowledge  about  the  subject,  accept  as 
gospel  all  they  are  told,  and  thus  come 
to  regard  all  game  and  game-preserving 
in  this  country  through  a  false  and  dis- 
torted medium. 

It  is  not  the  sayings  themselves  that 
do  the  mischief;  when  they  come  from 
the  irresponsible  tub-thumper  in  the  park 
we  may  well  afford  to  forgive  him  his 
ignorance,  and  leave  him  to  battle  the  air 
in  peace,  knowing  that  his  words  are  dead 
as  soon  as  spoken  ;  when,  however,  they 
fall  from  the  lips  of  a  responsible  Minister 
of  the  Crown,  with  all  the  dignity  of  his 


THEIR  DEFENCE  3 

high  office  to  lend  them  weight  and 
ensure  their  wide  circulation  and  ready 
acceptance,  it  is  indeed  time  for  some  of 
us,  who  have  the  best  interests  of  sport  at 
heart,  to  bestir  ourselves  and  make  our 
voices  heard  in  defence  of  what  we  hold 
to  be  a  fair  and  legitimate  recreation. 

With  stags  and  pheasants  we  have  not 
here  to  deal,  but  in  so  far  as  our  little 
friend  the  partridge  is  concerned  in  the 
sweeping  condemnation  above  quoted,  we 
can  with  confidence  give  the  lie  direct  to 
such  an  absurd  proposition. 

One  may  even  say,  without  any  exag- 
geration, that  unless  the  square  miles,  at 
which  the  finger  of  righteous  wrath  was 
pointed,  are  inhabited  by  numbers  of  men, 
women  and  children,  well  disposed  to 
those  who  preserve  and  shoot  over  the 
ground,  you  may  throw  your  land  away 
in  such  profligate  extravagance  as  you 
will,  but  you  will  seek  in  vain  to  make  a 
good  partridge-shooting. 

For  it  is  an  axiom  that  partridges 
*  follow  the  plough,'  and  it  is  exactly  on 


4  PARTRIDGES 

those  lands  where  farming  most  thrives, 
where  the  largest  number  of  farm  hands 
are  engaged  in  cultivating  the  land,  and 
where  a  considerate  and  conscientious 
landowner  lives  on  the  best  of  terms  with 
tenant  and  labourer  alike,  that  partridges 
do  best,  and  it  is  there  that  the  big  totals 
at  which  our  social  reformers  hold  up 
their  hands  in  horror,  are  obtained,  not  at 
the  expense,  but  actually  with  the  con- 
nivance and  approval  of  the  entire  rural 
community. 

The  countryman,  indeed,  is  not  likely 
to  be  taken  in  by  all  the  nonsense  which 
is  now  talked  about  sport  as  part  of  the 
crusade  against  the  amusements  of  the 
privileged  classes.  He  knows  well  enough 
that  partridges  do  no  damage  to  farmers  ; 
that  the  whole  neighbourhood  benefits 
directly  by  the  presence  of  the  shooting 
tenant  who  spends  his  autumn  in  their 
midst;  and  that  good  watching  by  the 
gamekeepers  saves  many  a  poultry  roost 
from  the  depredations  of  the  local  poachers, 
and  farms  from  the  dangers  of  gates  left 


THEIR  DEFENCE  5 

open  and  straying  stock,  for  these  gentry 
do  not  bear  the  character  of  being  over- 
considerate  of  others,  such  time  as  they 
are  pursuing  their  nocturnal  vocation. 

But,  unfortunately  at  least  in  this 
respect,  it  is  the  townsman  who  has  the 
predominant  voice  in  the  management  of 
affairs  in  this  country ;  he  is  being  taught 
to  be  severely  critical  of  the  pleasures  of 
the  rich,  and,  among  others,  the  man  with 
the  dog  and  the  gun  is  constantly  held  up 
to  him  in  an  utterly  false  and  untrue  light. 

Alike  on  ethical  and  economic  grounds 
we  would  meet  our  detractors.  While 
we  do  not  seek  to  defend  the  man  who, 
with  means  admitting  of  continued  leisure, 
devotes  the  best  of  his  life  and  energies  to 
the  pursuit  of  sport,  we  hold  that  he  is  in 
a  negligible  minority  in  this  country,  and 
that  it  is  most  unfair  to  take  him  as 
typical  of  a  class,  for  he  is  simply  the 
waster  who  is  found  in  every  walk  of  life, 
and  by  no  means  the  normal  example. 
Certainly  in  partridge-shooting  it  would 
be  safe  to  say  that  ninety  out  of  every 


6  PARTRIDGES 

hundred  who  follow  this  sport  are  deserv- 
ing members  of  the  community,  enjoying 
well-earned  holidays  in  a  peculiarly  harm- 
less fashion. 

**  Your  partridges  and  your  pheasants," 
cries  the  Socialist  and  his  like,  **  Nature's 
produce,  the  rightful  property  of  the 
people,  and  only  withheld  by  the  mon- 
strous injustice  of  the  game  laws,  framed 
only  to  suit  the  convenience  of  a  privileged 
class."  Neither  he  nor  his  hearers  care  to 
know  that  the  landowner  or  lessee  pays, 
by  the  time  he  has  shot  them,  something 
like  £l  a  brace  for  this  public  property, 
and  that  were  game  allowed  to  fend  for 
itself  with  no  protection  against  its  legion 
foes,  winged,  biped,  and  four-footed,  there 
would  very  shortly  be  no  game  left  in  the 
country  for  any  one. 

Vindictive  legislation  could  easily  stop 
the  present  class  of  sportsmen  from  enjoy- 
ing their  shooting,  but  such  a  short-sighted 
measure  would  defeat  its  own  ends,  which 
would  be,  presumably,  the  good  of  the 
many.     Sport  would  by  no  means  be  thus 


THEIR  DEFENCE  7 

provided  for  the  million,  for  sport  would 
cease  to  exist.  Abolish  the  game  laws, 
and  game  in  this  country  would  be 
abolished  by  the  same  act.  If  we  con- 
sider how  many  are  dependent  for  their 
livelihood  on  partridge  -  shooting,  how 
many  more  derive  profitable  employment 
therefrom,  a  welcome  aid  to  their  narrow 
means,  how  largely  all  trades  in  a  country 
district  depend  on  the  money  that  cir- 
culates, directly  or  indirectly,  through  the 
shooting,  and  finally  what  a  valuable 
source  of  food  supply  our  shootings  are — 
(does  not  France  spend  a  million  annually 
on  imported  game  ?)  —  we  realize  how 
strong  a  case  we  have,  and  one  which, 
rightly  understood,  should  make  the  most 
ardent  reformer  chary  of  interfering  with 
so  valuable  a  national  asset,  so  important 
a  factor  in  our  rural  economy. 

The  question  seems  simple  enough ; 
so  long  as  human  nature  remains  what 
it  is,  some  folk  will  work  with  their 
brains  instead  of  their  hands,  and  make 
money  at  the  expense  of  those  who  find 


8  PARTRIDGES 

in  manual  labour  the  only  profitable  ex- 
pression of  their  energy.  The  work  of 
the  head  being  in  its  nature  sedentary, 
such  folk  will  also  desire  to  spend  the 
money  they  have  earned  in  outdoor 
pursuits,  in  the  interests  of  their  work,  if 
for  no  better  reason.  Some  of  these  will 
always  hanker  after  the  joys  of  partridge- 
shooting,  and  if  they  cannot  get  it  in  this 
country,  which  heaven  forfend,  they  will 
betake  themselves  to  Hungary,  Belgium 
or  Germany  for  their  days  of  leisure. 

It  must  surely  be  better  for  the  country 
that  the  money  earned  here  should  be 
spent  at  home,  to  the  betterment  of 
the  very  class  that  all  are  agreed  most 
want  encouragement  —  the  agricultural 
population. 

And  if  any  think  that  this  is  an  ex- 
aggerated estimate  of  the  dependence  of 
the  general  prosperity  in  a  country  district 
on  the  sport  it  affords,  let  him  go  to  the 
West  of  Ireland  and  study  the  conditions 
prevailing  there.  He  will  find  that, 
where  there  is  hunting,  the  district  may 


THEIR  DEFENCE  9 

be  poor,  but  there  will  always  be  a 
certain  amount  of  money  circulating,  and 
consequently  little  real  distress  when 
compared  with  the  districts  where  there 
are  no  hounds  and  consequently  no  sport, 
game-preservation  being  impossible  and 
game  naturally  almost  extinct.  What 
he  will  notice  chiefly  then  is  the  absolute 
stagnation  and  scarcity  of  money,  trade  at 
a  standstill,  and  universal  poverty  ;  and  let 
us  hope  that  he  will  profit  by  this  object 
lesson,  and  talk  less  at  the  next  election 
about  popular  rights  and  the  game  laws. 

Meantime,  it  is  well  to  ask,  though 
difficult  to  answer,  what  security  of 
tenure  our  game  laws  have  in  the  near 
future.  They  have  been  openly  attacked 
on  hundreds  of  Radical  platforms  in 
the  plethora  of  General  Elections  from 
which  we  have  suffered  of  late,  often  with 
the  silent  consent  of  the  Radical  candi- 
date, himself  not  uncommonly  a  game- 
preserver  on  a  large  scale  in  some  other 
county,  —  an  anomaly  which  we  do  not 
seek  to  explain. 


10  PARTRIDGES 

Fifteen  years  ago  Mr.  C.  Stuart 
Wortley  was  able  to  write  that  "the 
game  laws  stand  on  safer  ground  than 
they  have  ever  done  in  the  history  of 
England." 

Could  he  say  the  same  to-day  ?  Sport, 
which  must  be  the  luxury  of  the  few, 
is  siieh  an  easy  subject  of  attack,  pro- 
vided only  that  your  audience  be  ignorant 
enough.  Attack,  however  unjust,  when 
virulent  and  oft-repeated,  undoubtedly 
will  have  effects,  especially  when  the  de- 
fence is  silent ;  and  the  difficulty  of  a 
right  understanding  lies  not  a  little  in 
a  certain  slackness  noticeable  among 
those  most  interested.  It  is  quite  com- 
mon to  hear  it  said  in  the  smoking-room 
— "  Let's  have  a  good  shoot  now  ;  who 
knows  whether  there  will  be  any  shooting 
in  ten  years'  time."  This  deplorable 
attitude  of  laisser-faire,  this  philosophical 
pessimism,  cannot  be  too  strongly  con- 
temned. 

We  game-preservers  must  realize  that 
though  the  arguments  of  our  detractors 


THEIR  DEFENCE  11 

seem  to  us  trivial  and  absurd,  and 
scarcely  worthy  of  contradiction,  yet  the 
masses  do  not  share  our  special  know- 
ledge of  the  subject,  and  it  is  for  us  to 
enlighten  their  ignorance,  dispel  the 
fallacies  before  they  take  root,  and  lead 
them  to  a  better  understanding.  It  is 
neither  right  nor  in  any  way  expedient 
to  obscure  the  issue,  and  evade  the 
question  of  game-preserving  on  public 
platforms. 

Rightly  handled,  our  case  is  eminently 
a  presentable  one ;  lay  it  clearly  before 
the  people  whenever  the  chance  offers, 
and  show  how  it  rests  on  a  firm  base — 
the  general  welfare  of  the  country.  Do 
not  talk  overmuch  about  the  rights  of 
property ;  however  strongly  you  may 
believe  in  them  yourself,  still  you  cannot 
expect  them  to  appeal  to  those  who  only 
want  a  right  to  your  property,  nor  in- 
deed to  the  mass  of  the  people,  to  whom 
property  is  but  a  name.  You  will  not 
get  them  to  admit  the  sanctity  of  human 
institutions,  but  on  broader  grounds  they 


12  PARTRIDGES 

will  listen  to  your  pleading,  and  your 
voice  will  not  have  been  raised  in  vain. 
For  surely  we  all  share  a  belief  in  the 
reasonable  nature  of  our  fellow-country- 
men ;  could  they  but  understand  some  of 
the  simplest  facts  about  game-preserving, 
we  may  rest  assured  that  they  would 
listen  with  less  patience  to  all  the  rant 
and  cant,  which,  uncontradicted,  is  liable 
to  work  so  much  harm. 

I  have  not  touched  at  all  on  the 
pleasures  of  partridge-shooting,  on  the 
immense  amount  of  enjoyment  which 
it  provides,  for  here  I  should  be  no  im- 
partial critic,  and  no  eulogy,  however 
eloquent,  could  be  expected  to  influence 
the  judgment  of  those  who  have  never 
had  the  good  fortune  to  enjoy  this  or 
any  other  form  of  sport. 

Further,  this  is  a  utilitarian  age  in 
which  we  find  ourselves.  Matters  are 
weighed  in  the  balance  of  material  good 
to  the  nation,  and  judged  accordingly. 
All  that  we  game-preservers  ask  for  is 
that  the  scales  should  be  held  true,  the 


THEIR  DEFENCE  13 

measures   fairly   balanced,    and   then   we 
need  have  little  fear  of  the  verdict. 

Let,  then,  those  who  profess  to  love 
the  people  more  than  we  do — and  cer- 
tainly do  express  their  affection  more 
often  and  volubly — before  they  deal  with 
the  question  of  sport,  consider  the  points 
in  favour  of  partridge-shooting,  the  most 
universal  and  popular  form  of  sport  in 
this  country.  For  their  benefit  let  us 
summarize  the  arguments  in  favour  of 
our  pastime,  viewed  in  the  most  material- 
istic spirit  we  can  compass. 

Partridge  -  shooting  is  a  valuable  by- 
product of  successful  agriculture,  to  the 
operations  of  which  it  is  in  no  sense 
inimical. 

It  alone  induces  men  with  money  to 
pass  their  autumns  in  remote  country 
districts,  where  their  presence  stimulates 
the  local  trade,  and  puts  much -needed 
money  in  circulation. 

It  permanently  supports  a  numerous 
class,  the  gamekeepers  of  Britain,  who 
preserve  those  virile  qualities  so  necessary 


14  PARTRIDGES 

to  the  well-being  of  a  nation,  besides  offer- 
ing to  many  thousands  of  poor  people  the 
chance  of  adding  a  few  shillings  to  their 
narrow  means. 

Stripped  of  all  the  qualities  which  en- 
dear him  to  us,  the  partridge  may  still  be 
regarded  as  a  small  machine,  which  turns 
noxious  weeds  and  useless  insects  into  a 
valuable  food  for  humans. 

One  might  add  that  partridge-shooting 
is  a  wholesome  and  manly  recreation, 
teaching  city  dwellers  something  of  the 
pleasures  of  an  open-air  life,  and  stimulat- 
ing an  interest  in  natural  history. 

If  the  game  laws  were  rescinded, 
thousands  of  local  tradesmen,  who  depend 
largely  on  the  custom  of  the  *  big  house,* 
would  be  ruined  ;  tens  of  thousands  of 
gamekeepers,  gunmakers,  cartridge-factory 
hands,  and  the  like  would  be  thrown  out 
of  employment,  and  in  return  you  would 
have  established  the  principle,  futile  in 
conception  and  barren  in  results,  that  the 
land  and  all  that  on  it  is  belongs  to  the 
people. 


THEIR  DEFENCE  15 

Social  reformers  of  to-day  seem  only 
too  apt  to  attack  existing  institutions 
which  seem  to  minister  to  the  pleasures 
of  the  few,  without  pausing  to  consider 
on  what  basis  they  rest,  and  how  far  they 
are  conducive  to  the  welfare  of  the 
community.  Fair  play  all  round  has 
from  time  immemorial  been  the  boasted 
characteristic  of  our  race,  and  if  people 
would  only  try  to  approach  such  a  subject 
as  this  with  a  comparatively  open  mind, 
listen  to  what  both  sides  have  to  say  on 
the  question,  and  then  work  the  matter 
out  to  a  reasoned  conclusion,  they  would 
surely  be  led  to  better  ways  of  thinking. 

On  the  other  side  it  cannot  be  too 
strongly  impressed  on  sportsmen  that 
their  sport  is  a  luxury,  which  they  enjoy 
through  the  toleration  of  the  community, 
and  that  their  responsibilities  are  not  at 
an  end  when  they  have  paid  the  rent  of 
the  shooting  and  taken  out  a  game  license. 

Their  attitude  towards  the  dwellers  on 
the  land  they  shoot  over  cannot  be  too 
considerate   and   thoughtful.      Here,    for 


16  PARTRIDGES 

once,  duty  and  self-interest  walk  hand  in 
hand ;  to  make  the  lives  of  those  around 
you  a  little  brighter  for  your  presence  is 
not  only  right,  but,  on  a  partridge-shooting, 
is  like  bread  cast  upon  the  waters  and 
brings  a  sure  reward. 

By  having  every  man  on  your  shooting 
a  friend,  you  will  best  answer  your  de- 
tractors, strengthen  your  own  position, 
and  silence  the  voice  of  adverse  criticism. 


pAUTUIDf.E    AND    YoUNG. 


CHAPTER  II 

NATURAL    HISTORY 

Distribution  and  life-history  of  the  partridge — Red-legged 
partridges — Foreign  varieties  suitable  for  introduction 
— Cookery  of  the  partridge. 

The  common  partridge,  known  indiffer- 
ently to  scientists  as  Perdix  Perdioo  or 
Perdioc  cinerea,  and  more  familiarly  to 
sportsmen  as  *  the  little  brown  bird/  is  a 
member  of  a  large  family,  no  fewer  than 
152  species  of  partridges  and  their  affinities 
being  recognized  by  ornithologists. 

Besides  our  own  indigenous  bird,  but 
one  other  species  is  resident  in  the  British 
Isles,  the  red-legged  partridge  [Caccabis 
7nifa),  which  hails  from  the  extreme 
south-west  parts  of  Europe,  and  was  first 
introduced  into  England  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II. 

X7  2 


18  PARTRIDGES 

While  we  thus  have  in  this  country  a 
representative  of  each  of  the  two  main 
branches  of  the  family,  tetraonine  and 
galline  (the  latter  comprising  all  the 
numerous  species  of  red-legged  partridges, 
distinguishable  by  the  strong,  blunt  spurs  of 
the  cocks),  it  is  still  somewhat  surprising, 
considering  the  almost  infinite  variety  of 
pheasants  that  flourish  in  our  midst,  to  note 
that  no  other  kinds  of  partridges  have  been 
successfully  established. 

Mr.  Walter  Rothschild,  one  of  the  first 
authorities  on  this  branch  of  ornithology, 
has  given  a  list  of  over  twenty  varieties 
which  he  considers  well  adapted  to  hold 
their  own  in  our  somewhat  uncertain 
climate. 

Especially  does  he  recommend  the 
Lerwa  partridge,  a  handsome  bird  with 
chestnut-red  and  grey  plumage,  a  native 
of  the  high  ranges  of  the  Himalayas. 
Strong  on  the  wing  and  as  large  as  a 
grouse,  this  Indian  species  might  be  a 
very  desirable  acquisition  on  high  and 
broken  ground. 


NATURAL  HISTORY         19 

Then  there  are  the  snow  partridges  or 
snow  cocks  ( Tetraogallus),  of  which  each 
considerable  range  of  mountains  in  Asia 
seems  to  have  a  distinct  species.  The 
two  varieties  which  Mr.  Rothschild  deems 
most  suitable  for  introduction  hail  from 
the  high  tops  of  the  Caucasus  and  the 
Himalayas  respectively.  They  are  at  once 
the  shyest  and  wildest,  and  the  finest  of 
the  partridge  race,  being  as  large  as  a 
hen  capercailzie.  Despite  their  size,  they 
could  not  be  mistaken  for  anything  but 
a  real  partridge,  and  look  a  true  and  noble 
game  bird  in  their  beautiful  plumage  of 
silvery-grey  and  white,  the  naked  patch 
behind  the  eye  making  a  splash  of  orange 
vermiHon,  which  contrasts  pleasingly  with 
the  more  sober  and  delicate  tones  of  the 
general  colour  scheme. 

While  we  would  gladly  welcome  these 
fine  mountain-dwellers  as  a  splendid  addi- 
tion to  our  native  fauna — and  it  would 
indeed  lend  a  new  interest  to  the  scenery 
if  one  might  look  to  flush  the  mighty 
snow  cock  among  the  barren  solitudes  of 


20  PARTRIDGES 

the  high  tops — yet  it  is  not  easy  whole- 
heartedly to  subscribe  to  Mr.  Rothschild's 
dictum,  that  it  is  certain  that  they  would 
do  admirably  on  our  north  country  fells 
and  Scots  mountains.  One  scents  diffi- 
culties in  the  path  ;  though,  so  far  as  the 
food  supply  is  concerned,  they  would 
probably  thrive  on  the  same  scanty  fare 
of  roots,  berries,  grass,  and  moss  that 
keeps  the  ptarmigan  so  plump  and  lusty, 
yet  surely  the  high  mountain  sides  of 
Asia  must  have  a  climate  far  drier  and 
colder  than  our  own,  and  one  cannot  but 
doubt  that,  unless  expense  were  no  object, 
the  cost  of  the  experiment  might  be  out 
of  all  proportion  to  its  results. 

Continuous  wet  and  rain  are  far  the 
most  trying  conditions  to  all  wild  life, 
and  to  a  new-comer,  unacquainted  with 
all  the  clever  devices  which  the  natives 
employ  to  keep  themselves  dry,  might 
well  prove  fatal  at  the  outset. 

Still,  I  have  seen  Crested  Cranes  from 
the  sun-baked  plains  of  Kordofan  thriv- 
ing among  the  damps  and  mists   of  the 


NATURAL  HISTORY         21 

west  coast  of  Scotland,  nor  would  I 
seek  for  an  instant  to  discourage  any  one 
from  the  attempt ;  only  let  him  *  gang 
warily,'  and,  despite  what  he  may  find 
in  books  on  the  subject,  by  no  means 
consider  success  in  his  praiseworthy 
efforts  assured  from  the  start. 

There  is  one  partridge  from  Western 
Mongolia  (P.  bai^bata  or  dailrica),  whom 
it  would  be  quite  reasonable  to  assume 
would  do  well  with  us,  accustomed  as 
he  is  to  a  cold,  wet  climate  and  a  heavy 
soil.  He  is  not  unlike  our  own  grey 
partridge  in  general  appearance,  save  for 
the  superior  attractions  of  a  black  horse- 
shoe on  a  golden-bufF  breast,  and  the 
remarkable  addition  to  the  ordinary  garb 
of  a  partridge  in  the  form  of  well-grown 
ginger  whiskers,  or  to  speak  more  scientific- 
ally yet  perhaps  less  descriptively,  of 
certain  elongated  lanceolate  feathers  on 
the  sides  of  the  throat.  He  would  be 
an  attractive  novelty  in  a  countryside, 
and  perchance  one's  eye  might  be  caught 
by  his  flowing  whiskers  as  he  topped  the 


22  PARTRIDGES 

fence,   giving   us    that    extra   six   inches 
forward  that  some  of  us  want  so  badly. 

The  partridge  which  is  probably  the 
best  for  introduction  to  this  country  is 
not,  strictly  speaking,  a  partridge  at  all ; 
but  as  he  is  at  least  a  cousin  of  the  grey 
partridges,  and  the  members  of  his  race 
{Bonasa)  are  commonly  and  indiscrimin- 
ately, if  erroneously,  called  partridges, 
pheasants  and  chickens  by  sportsmen,  it 
may  not  be  altogether  amiss,  after  due 
apology  for  his  presence,  to  accord  him 
a  passing  mention  in  these  pages. 

The  small  hazel  hen  of  the  Carpathians 
{Bonasa  sylvestris)  is  akin  to  the  Ruffed 
Grouse,  Sage  Cock,  and  Spruce  partridges 
of  North  America.  He  is  a  handsome 
fellow  with  grey  plumage,  blended  with 
every  shade  of  red  and  brown  ;  the  back 
and  wings  have  crescent  -  shaped  black 
markings  edged  with  white,  the  throat  is 
black,  surrounded  by  a  white  line,  while 
the  feathered  legs  betray  his  affinity  to 
the  grouse.  The  flight  is  noisy,  rapid, 
but  not  protracted,  a  covey  when  flushed 


NATURAL  HISTORY         23 

soon  settling  again  in  the  trees,  where 
they  remain  motionless,  and  where  only 
a  trained  and  quick  eye  can  pick  them 
up. 

Their  note  is  a  low  melancholy  whistle, 
and  they  are  easily  called  by  means  of 
a  peculiar  instrument,  extensively  used 
in  Roumania,  where  they  abound,  and 
so  constructed  that  the  performer  can 
imitate  at  will  the  call  of  either  cock  or 
hen  to  attract  members  of  the  opposite 
sex.  Apart  from  the  sport  he  affords, 
the  hazel  hen  has  a  strong  recommenda- 
tion to  our  favour,  for  he  is  quite  the 
best  bird  in  the  world  to  eat,  with  flesh 
white  in  colour,  and  of  a  peculiar  and 
eminently  palatable  flavour. 

Hazel  hens  find  their  natural  home 
among  rough  and  dense  forests  on  hill- 
sides of  no  great  altitude ;  their  range 
extends  northwards  through  Scandinavia, 
southwards  as  far  as  China  and  Japan, 
while  the  Ardennes  form  their  western 
limit  in  Europe. 

Their  food  consists  of  the  shoots  and 


24  PARTRIDGES 

buds  of  birch  and  hazel,  berries  and  other 
fruits,  worms,  insects  and  their  larvse. 

There  seems  no  reasonable  cause  why 
they  should  not  thrive  and  multiply  with 
us,  if  once  introduced ;  and  as  their 
natural  haunts  in  this  country  are  now 
only  tenanted  by  the  occasional  caper- 
cailzie, they  would  add  greatly  to  the 
attractions  of  a  type  of  country  which 
is  now  practically  gameless.  This  bird 
deserves  especial  notice  at  this  present 
time,  when  the  low  estate  of  our  wood- 
lands and  the  advantages  of  growing  our 
own  timber  have  become  questions  of 
national  interest,  and  every  year  we  may 
expect  to  see  more  and  more  waste  and 
unproductive  hill  land  turned  into  forest 
and  woodland. 

Several  other  members  of  the  partridge 
family  have  from  time  to  time  been  given 
a  trial  in  this  country,  but  never  with 
more  than  a  partial  success.  Such  incon- 
clusive results  do  not,  however,  warrant 
the  assumption  that  none  of  the  strangers 
are  likely  to  do  well  with  us,  for  it  must 


NATURAL  HISTORY         25 

be  borne  in  mind  that  the  initial  attempts 
to  introduce  a  new  species  have  generally 
ended  in  failure,  and  that  the  eventual 
success  has  usually  been  gained  by  per- 
sistence in  face  of  repeated  disappoint- 
ments. 

It  is  only  a  hundred  years  since  Yarrell, 
the  best  authority  on  birds  of  his  day, 
wrote  bewailing  the  approaching  ex- 
tinction of  the  Chinese  pheasant  (P. 
torquatus),  then  a  recent  and  much- 
admired  introduction ;  yet,  after  all,  the 
new-comer  proved  more  than  capable  of 
holding  his  own,  ousting  the  old  Indian 
pheasant  wherever  they  met,  till  now  not 
one  in  ten  thousand  of  our  pheasants  but 
bears  marked  trace  of  ring-necked  blood. 

The  Duchess  of  Bedford  has  kindly 
furnished  me  with  the  following  notes 
on  the  various  foreign  partridges  which 
have  been  turned  out  experimentally  in 
the  park  at  Woburn  Abbey  : — **  We 
once  turned  out  some  Black  partridges 
{Fi^ancolinus  vulgaris — a  native  of  Pales- 
tine and  Asia  Minor),  but  they  disappeared. 


26  PARTRIDGES 

We  have  a  large  number  of  Chukor 
{Caccabis  chukor  —  an  Indian  species 
akin  to  our  red-legged  partridge),  which 
do  fairly  well  and  would  do  better  if 
they  did  not  fight  so  desperately  in  the 
spring,  even  to  the  death.  They  do  not 
appear  to  stray  at  all,  and  1  only  know 
of  one  ever  having  been  shot  outside  the 
park. 

**  We  have  also  turned  out  a  good  many 
Bamboo  partridges  (Bambtisicola  Fytchii 
— from  N.E.  India) ;  these  have  bred 
with  us  and  there  are  always  a  few 
about,  but  they  cannot  be  said  to  do 
very  well.  They  seem  to  disappear,  as 
one  sees  them  in  summer  with  strong, 
well-grown  broods,  and  yet  they  do  not 
increase. 

**  One  was  shot  near  Bedford,  twelve 
miles  away,  a  few  years  ago,  and  a  large 
drawing  of  it  by  Frohawk  appeared  in  the 
Field  as  a  *  hybrid  pheasant  and  partridge,' 
Mr.  Tegetmeier  writing  a  long  article 
upon  the  bird  I " 

The  Red-legged  or   French  partridge 


NATURAL  HISTORY         27 

is  now  firmly  established  in  our  eastern 
and  southern  countries,  though  still  a 
stranger  in  the  north  and  west.  In 
Scotland  he  is  unknown,  though  recently 
some  have  been  turned  down  in  the 
sandy  soil  of  Aberdeen,  where  they  would 
seem  likely  to  thrive  and  multiply. 

First  brought  over  to  this  country 
about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth 
century  and  enlarged  in  Windsor  Forest, 
by  far  the  largest  influx  coincided  with 
the  rush  of  other  emigi^es  from  France, 
such  time  as  the  shadow  of  the  guillotine 
lay  dark  on  that  sunny  land.  Most  of  the 
new-comers  were  turned  out  on  Norfolk 
and  Suffolk  estates,  spreading  thence 
through  the  neighbouring  counties. 

Commonly  known  as  Frenchmen,  the 
name  seems  singularly  apposite,  for  they 
have  many  of  the  qualities  and  character- 
istics we  are  wont  to  attribute  to  the 
French  nation.  They  are  gay  in  appear- 
ance, and  their  showy  plumage  of  olive- 
brown  back,  blue-grey  and  rufous  brown 
breast,  black  and  cream  throat,  and  flanks 


28  PARTRIDGES 

boldly  barred  with  black,  pale  buff,  and 
intense  red,  forms  a  striking  tout  ensemble 
which  quite  throws  into  the  shade  the 
quiet,  unostentatious  dress  of  our  native 
bird. 

They  seem  fond  of  publicity,  and  are 
always  en  evidence,  strutting  about  in  the 
middle  of  the  open  fields,  when  the  grey 
partridges  have  sought  privacy  in  the 
seclusion  of  some  quiet  corner. 

They  are  of  a  restless  and  nervous 
disposition,  have  marked  and  unaccount- 
able dislikes  for  certain  fields,  and  effectu- 
ally disappoint  the  theorist,  who  would 
base  on  their  actions  in  the  past  any 
guidance  as  to  their  probable  behaviour 
in  the  future. 

Their  domestic  arrangements  seem 
strange  in  our  eyes.  While  our  English 
partridge  is  the  most  considerate  and 
consistent  of  mothers,  laying,  sitting  and 
hatching  with  a  business-like  punctuality, 
and  generally  conducting  the  affairs  of 
her  household  with  a  commendable,  if 
humdrum,  regularity,  so  that  under  given 


NATURAL  HISTORY         29 

conditions  you  may  with  tolerable  cer- 
tainty forecast  the  progress  of  events, 
with  the  French  partridges  it  is  quite 
otherwise.  In  the  first  instance,  they 
may  travel  miles  before  they  happen  on 
a  nesting-place  which  suits  their  wayward 
taste ;  then  they  will  lay  their  eggs  at 
quite  uncertain  intervals  of  time,  and 
desert  the  nest  at  any  moment  for  no 
accountable  reason.  Even  when  sitting, 
they  will  suddenly  leave  eggs  on  the 
verge  of  hatching,  stay  away  for  days 
together,  and  unexpectedly  come  back 
to  hatch  off  a  brood,  just  when  the  nest 
has  been  written  down  as  a  failure. 

While  they  have  earned  a  bad  reputa- 
tion as  mothers,  they  will  often  astonish 
the  world  in  general  by  successfully  bring- 
ing up  a  large  family  in  a  happy-go- 
lucky  sort  of  way.  For  some  reason 
they  seem  to  suffer  less  from  wet  seasons 
than  English  birds,  and  often  do  fairly 
well  when  all  the  chances  seem  against 
them. 

Finally,  just  as  was  the  case  with  our 


30  PARTRIDGES 

neighbours  across  the  Channel,  we  hated 
and  persecuted  them  so  long  as  we  mis- 
understood them ;  but  now,  happily,  in 
the  partridge  world  as  elsewhere,  a  better 
understanding  prevails,  an  entente  cordiale 
has  been  established,  and  it  is  no  longer 
deemed  impossible  for  French  and  English 
neighbours  to  live  together  in  amity. 

Before  the  introduction  of  driving, 
French  partridges  were  very  unpopular. 
They  have  a  marked  proclivity  for 
running,  and  were  equally  annoying  to 
sportsmen,  as  detrimental  to  the  manners 
of  young  pointers,  in  dogging  days. 
They  were  also  accused  of  driving  away 
English  birds  from  their  nests,  though 
under  modern  conditions  this  is  certainly 
not  the  case,  the  grey  partridges  generally 
coming  off  best  when  it  comes  to  fisti- 
cuffs. Probably  the  truth  was  that 
owing  to  the  difficulty  of  getting  up  on 
them  when  walking,  many  French  par- 
tridges survived  to  a  ripe  old  age,  and 
the  race  suffered  from  the  misdeeds  of 
individuals,  any   barren   or  bachelor   old 


NATURAL  HISTORY         31 

partridge  being  equally  mischievous  in 
the  spring. 

They  suffered  and  survived  severe 
persecution  ;  keepers  trampled  on  their 
nests,  and  generally  treated  them  as 
vermin  ;  now,  however,  they  have  been 
restored  to  favour,  their  value  on  driving 
ground  admitted,  and  on  most  estates, 
where  they  exist,  they  are  encouraged 
and  preserved. 

Apart  from  the  peculiar  propensities 
above  mentioned,  the  life-habits  of  the 
red-leg  are  very  similar  to  those  of  the 
common  partridge.  They  seem  to  prefer 
waste  lands,  commons,  or  heath  in  the 
vicinity  of  cultivation  ;  object  to  grass 
lands  even  more  strongly  than  their 
cousins,  yet  seem  to  do  well  on  heavy 
clay  sorl  where  the  English  bird  fails. 
They  would  always  rather  trust  to  their 
legs  than  their  wings  for  escape  from 
danger,  in  which  event  the  covey  breaks 
up,  each  bird  fending  for  himself.  Their 
flight,  when  they  do  get  up,  is  rapid  and 
short ;   they  hardly  ever  swerve,  but  fly 


32  PARTRIDGES 

straight  from  point  to  point.  The  exist- 
ence of  any  hybrid  between  the  two 
species  has  yet  to  be  proved. 

The  range  of  the  common  partridge  is 
wide ;  draw  a  line  on  the  map  from 
Brussels  to  Venice ;  roughly  speaking, 
the  country  east  of  this  line  is  its  natural 
habitat,  stretching  northwards  through 
Scandinavia  almost  up  to  the  Arctic 
Circle,  and  ranging  southwards  as  far  as 
the  Caucasus  Mountains,  and  eastwards 
into  Northern  Persia  and  Central  Asia 
up  to  the  Altai  Mountains,  east  of  which 
range  its  place  is  taken  by  a  smaller  but 
closely  allied  species. 

In  this  country  the  partridge  is  gener- 
ally distributed  through  every  district 
where  the  land  is  cultivated  and  game 
preserved.  The  application  of  modern 
scientific  methods  to  the  care  and  pre- 
servation of  partridges  has  gone  far  to 
modify  their  natural  distribution. 

The  grey  partridge  with  us  has  less 
traits  of  the  migrant  than  perhaps  any 
other  of  our  native  birds.     Living  in  an 


I'REXCH  Partridge. 


NATURAL  HISTORY         33 

equable  climate,  with  a  food-supply  more 
or  less  assured  throughout  the  year,  he 
has  become  a  real  stay-at-home  bird,  and 
rarely  cares  to  wander  beyond  the  con- 
fines of  his  native  farm.  On  the  Con- 
tinent, however,  where  they  are  subjected 
to  more  violent  climatic  changes,  par- 
tridges are  of  a  more  migratory  habit, 
and  shift  their  quarters  freely,  travelling 
far  afield  in  search  of  food  and  shelter. 

Formerly  the  light  soils  of  the  eastern 
counties  of  England  were  alone  considered 
capable  of  supporting  great  numbers  of 
partridges,  as  indeed  they  were  capable 
of  doing  without  any  help  from  the  hand 
of  man,  beyond  the  casual  attentions  of 
the  old  -  fashioned  gamekeeper.  Now, 
however,  it  has  been  proved  beyond  all 
question  that  the  heavier  lands  of  Hamp- 
shire, Notts,  Yorkshire,  and  half-a-dozen 
other  counties  can,  under  the  modern 
methods  of  higher  preservation,  carry  as 
heavy  and,  in  some  cases,  even  a  heavier 
head  of  partridges  than  those  more 
naturally  congenial  to  game. 


34  PARTRIDGES 

The  sober  buff-brown  and  grey  livery 
of  our  most  familiar  game  bird  is  too 
well  known  among  all  country-dwellers 
to  demand  any  detailed  description.  It 
was  for  long  a  popular  and  almost  uni- 
versal belief  that  the  chestnut  horse-shoe 
on  the  breast  was  the  distinguishing 
mark  of  the  cock  partridge.  This  error 
was  duly  set  forth  as  a  fact  in  the  early 
text-books  on  ornithology,  and  as  solemnly 
repeated  in  each  succeeding  work  on 
the  subject,  though  a  very  superficial 
acquaintance  with  anatomy  and  five 
minutes'  examination  of  some  dead  birds 
would  have  served  to  put  it  right  at  any 
time. 

But  when  writers  are  content  to 
accept  their  facts  at  second  hand,  without 
any  attempt  to  verify  their  accuracy, 
mistakes  once  made  are  apt  to  linger 
long  and  die  hard.  Thus  it  was  only  of 
recent  years  that  it  has  been  shown  that 
the  horse-shoe  is  not  uncommonly  absent 
in  the  cock,  and  almost  invariably  present 
among  hens  of  the  first  year  ;  at  the  same 


NATURAL  HISTORY  35 

time  the  true  external  marks  of  sexual 
difference  were  pointed  out  and  finally 
settled/ 

Thus,  while  the  sexes  are  alike  in 
general  appearance,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  distinguish  with  any  certainty  between 
cock  and  hen  when  on  the  wing,  there 
are  certain  constant  and  trustworthy 
distinctions  which  may  be  easily  recog- 
nized on  closer  view,  even  among  young 
birds  at  the  opening  of  the  shooting 
season.  These  marks  of  difference  may 
thus  be  shortly  summarized  : — 

(1)  Median  and  lesser  wing  coverts  (the  smaller 
wing  feathers  towards  the  shoulder,  covering  the 
base  of  the  double  row  of  flight  feathers  or 
quills). 

(rt)  In  the  male.  (i)  In  the  female. 

Ground    colour    dark,  Ground  colour  black,  wzVA 

blotched    on    the    inner  tivo  or  three  wide-set  biiff 

web  with  chestnut ;  stripe  cross  bars,  in  addition  to 

of  buff  down  each  shaft,  buff"  shaft  stripe. 
but  no  cross  bars. 

^  Letters  of  Mr.  Ogilvie  Grant  of  the  British  Museum, 
published  in  the  Field,  November  21,  1891,  and  April  9, 
1892. 


36  PARTRIDGES 

(2)  Feathers  of  neck. 

(a)  In  the  male.  {!))  In  the  female. 

Ground     colour,    greyish  Ground       colour,      olive 

brown     to     slate  ;      fine  brown      bars     of     black 

irregular  bars  of  black;  broader  and  more  distinct; 

710  shaft  stripe.  shaft  stnpe  of  pale  buff. 

(3)  Crown  of  head. 

(rt)  In  the  male.  {h)  In  the  female. 

Ground  colour  chestnut  Ground  colour  chestnut 
brown ;  small  shaft  stripes  brown ;  larger  shaft  stripes 
of  same  colour.  of  pale  buff. 

Birds  of  the  year  may  be  distinguished 
till  November  by  the  yellowish  colour  of 
their  legs  and  feet ;  towards  the  close  of 
the  year  this  is  replaced  by  the  slaty  blue 
of  the  adult,  the  under  part  of  the  feet 
being  the  last  to  turn.  A  more  certain 
distinction  is  the  shape  of  the  first  flight 
feather  of  the  wing,  of  which  the  end  is 
pointed  in  a  young  bird,  and  rounded  in 
birds  which  have  undergone  their  second 
autumn  moult. 

Partridges  from  different  districts  vary 
somewhat  in  appearance  ;  the  finest  speci- 
mens, alike  in  bulk  and  riclmess  of  colora- 


NATURAL  HISTORY         37 

tion  (if  one  may  thus  speak  of  so  modest 
and  Quaker-like  a  habit),  come  from  light 
and  sandy  soils.  In  some  mstances  the 
horse-shoe  is  nearly  jet  black,  while  in 
most  old  hens  the  horse-shoe  becomes 
speckled  chestnut  and  white,  or  even 
pure  white. 

Varieties  in  which  the  predominant 
hue  is  light  fawn,  pale  buff,  pied  or  pure 
white,  are  from  time  to  time  recorded 
from  all  parts  of  the  country,  but  instances 
of  true  albinism  or  melanism  are  few  and 
far  between. 

There  is  one  type  of  variation  from 
the  normal  so  constant  in  its  recurrence 
as  to  have  at  one  time  been  granted  the 
dignity  of  being  classified  as  a  separate 
species,  under  the  name  of  Perdix 
viontaiid.  This  honour  has  now  been 
justly  rescinded,  for  the  question  is  simply 
one  of  a  superfluity  of  red-colouring  pig- 
ment in  the  individual,  though  probably 
to  some  extent  a  hereditary  tendency,  and 
doubtless  one  largely  influenced  by  food. 

This  seems  to  be  a  common  type  in 


38  PARTRIDGES 

the  mountains  of  Lorraine,  and  though 
of  less  frequent  occurrence  in  this  country, 
yet  scattered  instances  occur  in  every 
district  where  partridges  are  abundant, 
nor  is  it  by  any  means  confined  to 
mountain  and  moorland,  as  some  would 
suppose.  The  uniform  characteristic  of 
this  variety  is  a  more  or  less  pronounced 
tendency  to  a  rich  chestnut-brown  or 
rusty  red  colour  which  suffuses  the 
natural  plumage  in  varying  degree,  the 
most  strongly  marked  specimens  showing 
an  almost  complete  replica  of  the  colora- 
tion of  a  red  grouse. 

The  hill  partridge  is  another  well- 
known,  though  unscientific,  variety :  he 
has  learnt  to  be  independent  of  the 
farmer,  and  is  said  only  to  mate  with 
his  own  race.  Hill  partridges  are  smaller 
and  darker  in  colour  than  the  ordinary 
partridge,  and,  until  the  winter  sets  in, 
and  they  are  hard  put  to  it  to  eke  out 
a  livelihood,  are  generally  found  to  be 
plump,  well-conditioned,  and  of  fine,  wild 
flavour  on  the  table. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  39 

Though  the  scanty  food-supply  and 
manifold  hardships  incident  to  life  among 
the  bleak  surroundings  which  they  have 
chosen  for  their  home  prevent  their  ever 
increasing  to  anything  like  the  numbers 
of  their  more  favoured  brethren  of  the 
arable  lands,  still  they  manage  to  hold 
their  own  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 
and  on  our  northern  fells,  the  bare  heaths 
of  Surrey,  and  the  borders  of  most  moor- 
lands there  are  always  to  be  found  a  few 
coveys  of  these  hardy  stragglers.  Seasoned 
perhaps  by  adversity,  they  seem  to  suffer 
less  from  the  vagaries  of  our  climate  than 
the  dwellers  in  the  plains,  and  year  in  and 
year  out  little  difference  is  to  be  noticed 
in  their  numbers. 

The  partridge  chick,  a  tiny  morsel  of 
greyish  brown  down,  with  black  mark- 
ings on  the  head  and  stripes  down  the 
back,  usually  comes  into  the  world  some 
time  between  the  middle  of  June  and  the 
first  weeks  of  July,  the  date  of  hatching 
being  locally  very  constant,  but  varying 
in   different   districts,  southern   hatching 


40  PARTRIDGES 

earlier  than  eastern,  and  northern  a 
week  or  so  later. 

For  the  first  fortnight  of  their  life,  the 
dozen  chicks  which  may  constitute  the 
covey  have  but  a  slender  hold  on  existence. 
A  sudden  thunderstorm,  or  a  succession 
of  those  chill  and  sunless  days  and 
dropping  skies  which  the  doleful  experi- 
ences of  recent  years  almost  lead  one  to 
expect  as  the  normal  accompaniment  of 
an  English  midsummer,  means  a  sad  tale 
of  infantile  mortality  among  the  rising 
generation  of  partridges. 

As  soon  as  the  chicks  have  dried  after 
quitting  the  egg,  the  hen,  with  the  cock 
in  close  attendance,  leads  them  away  to 
the  nearest  patch  of  cover.  Apart  from 
the  dangers  of  inclement  weather,  and  the 
ever-present  dread  of  attack  by  some 
marauder,  furred  or  feathered,  their  welfare 
is  now  influenced  chiefly  by  the  available 
supply  of  insect  life,  on  which  they  depend 
entirely  for  their  food  till  they  are  at  least 
a  month  old. 

Thus  all  extremes  of  weather  at  hatch- 


NATURAL  HISTORY         41 

ing  time  are  to  be  deplored,  for  while  in 
wet  and  cold  seasons,  soaking  grass, 
chilled  and  sodden  lands,  with  undue 
prevalence  of  what  golfers  term  *  casual 
water,'  will  claim  their  victims  by  the 
thousand,  a  time  of  protracted  drought 
will  equally  spell  disaster,  though  after 
a  different  fashion. 

Heavy  lands  then  open  in  cracks  and 
fissures,  pitfalls  for  the  unwary  innocents  ; 
cover  from  foes  is  scanty,  and  the  chances 
of  an  epidemic  of  gapes,  when  the  first 
rain  comes,  are  much  increased.  These, 
however,  are  but  minor  evils ;  the  main 
trouble  then  is  a  universal  dearth  of  insect 
life,  and,  deprived  of  their  natural  susten- 
ance, young  partridges  will  continue  to 
waste  and  die  till  well  on  in  August. 

Warm  weather  with  light  showers  is 
what  we  all  long  to  see  at  hatching  time  ; 
the  warmth  to  ensure  a  favourable  hatch, 
and  the  showers  to  ensure  a  sufficient 
swarm  of  the  smaller  forms  of  life. 

When  all  goes  w^ell,  ants  and  ants'  eggs, 
aphides,   and  all   the  unconsidered  trifles 


42  PARTRIDGES 

of  the  insect  world  are  assiduously  sought 
for  and  devoured,  the  chicks  soon  learning 
to  follow  the  clucking  call  of  the  hen  in 
their  humble  forays,  and  to  answer  with 
a  little  chirp  of  their  own,  so  feeble  as  to 
be  almost  imperceptible  to  our  ruder  ears. 

On  these  expeditions  the  cock  generally 
looks  after  the  safety  of  the  party,  running 
on  a  few  yards  ahead,  and  giving  a  low 
note  of  encouragement  when  he  is  satisfied 
that  all  is  well  around  and  above  them. 

The  young  birds  grow  apace,  can  fly 
when  only  a  few  days  old  and  little  bigger 
than  sparrows,  and  should  no  casualties 
have  thinned  their  numbers  have,  after  a 
week,  grown  too  big  for  the  hen  to  cover 
all  at  once,  some  then  being  entrusted  to 
the  sheltering  wing  of  the  cock. 

Both  cock  and  hen  are  assiduous  and 
unremitting  in  the  care  and  attention  they 
give  to  their  family.  In  the  face  of 
danger  they  will  display  a  singular  devo- 
tion to  duty.  Naturally  timid  in  disposi- 
tion, when  with  their  young  they  develop 
a    rare   courage,    and    besides    the    time- 


NATURAL  HISTORY  43 

honoured  device  of  simulating  a  broken 
wing  to  draw  away  the  unwelcome  in- 
truder, a  stratagem  so  common  in  the  bird 
world,  they  will  fearlessly  attack  such 
formidable  enemies  as  dogs  and  crows. 
A  west  country  parson  was  recently 
driving  along  one  of  the  winding  lanes  of 
Devonshire,  and  came  suddenly  on  a 
brood  of  young  partridges  in  the  middle 
of  the  road.  As  he  pulled  up  to  avoid 
running  over  them,  one  old  bird  flew 
straight  up  at  the  pony's  nose,  and  per- 
sisted in  furious  attacks  until  the  other 
parent  had  led  the  whole  brood  over  the 
bank  into  safety,  when  he  quietly  flew 
over  the  hedge  to  join  them. 

As  the  corn  ripens,  the  covey  spends 
most  of  the  day  among  the  growing  crops, 
not  with  a  view  to  any  injury  of  the  grain, 
which  they  rarely,  if  ever,  meddle  with 
while  growing,  but  finding  a  plentiful 
harvest  of  their  own  anion 2f  the  wire- 
worms  and  other  noxious  grubs  and 
insects,  and  the  multitude  of  smaller 
weeds   which    flourish    among    the   corn. 


44  PARTRIDGES 

At  first  streak  of  dawn  the  family  are 
taken  to  dust  themselves  on  the  nearest 
sandy  bank  or  roadway,  a  practice  of 
which  through  life  they  are  as  fond  as  any 
ancient  Roman  of  his  bath,  and  which 
now  helps  to  keep  the  young  from  wet 
and  chill  until  the  sun  is  up  to  warm  the 
world.  When  the  corn  is  led,  they  come 
to  the  stubbles  as  soon  as  it  is  light,  to 
feed  on  the  fallen  grain,  true  perquisite  of 
the  wild,  all  kinds  of  seeds  and  grasses, 
spiders,  slugs,  beetles  and  such  like.  They 
then  retire  for  the  day  to  such  cover  as  is 
available — turnips,  clover,  or  waste  land. 
They  are  particularly  fond  of  a  small 
aphis,  which  is  found  on  the  under  side  of 
turnip  leaves  in  autumn.  Late  in  the 
afternoon  they  seek  the  stubbles  once 
more  for  the  evening  meal,  and  at  dusk 
the  covey,  collecting  with  much  conversa- 
tion, betakes  itself  to  roost  or  'jug,' 
generally  on  some  open  and  rising  ground, 
sleeping  bunched  in  a  circle,  with  the 
heads  pointing  outwards,  to  guard  against 
the  approach  of  danger. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  45 

At  three  months  the  young  birds  are 
practically  full-grown,  and,  undergoing 
the  autumn  moult,  begin  closely  to  re- 
semble the  old  birds  in  appearance. 
When  winter  sets  in,  the  diet  of  the 
covey  is  limited  by  force  of  circum- 
stances ;  the  ploughed  stubbles  afford 
them  some  pickings,  which,  with  weeds 
from  the  hedgerows,  grass,  turnip  leaves, 
and,  when  they  can  get  it,  young  clover, 
are  all  they  have  to  rely  on.  In  times  of 
protracted  frost  they  suffer  in  common 
with  all  other  wild  vegetarians  or  insect- 
feeders,  only  the  carnivora  then  reaping  an 
easy  and  plentiful  harvest. 

Few  birds  feel  the  influence  of  coming 
spring  so  early  as  the  partridge ;  a  few 
warm,  sunny  days  late  in  January,  and 
the  family  which  has  lived  together  from 
the  nest  begins  to  disintegrate.  The 
cocks,  of  which  there  are  naturally  a 
slight  preponderance,  fight  freely,  but  for 
most  part  innocuously.  So  long  as  the 
fine  weather  holds,  pairing  goes  forward 
apace,  but  a  snap  of  cold   reunites   the 


46  PARTRIDGES 

family  again,  and  it  is  generally  not  till 
the  end  of  February  that  the  ties  are 
finally  loosened,  each  pair  setting  up  house 
on  their  own. 

During  the  early  spring,  partridges  are 
very  fond  of  fallow  and  pasture,  staying 
in  the  open  all  day,  and  we  see  more  of 
our  little  friend  then  than  at  any  other 
time  of  the  year. 

The  choice  of  a  site  for  the  nest  seems 
to  be  a  very  weighty  matter ;  a  pair  will 
prospect  for  weeks  before  finally  deciding, 
and  their  eventual  selection  is  often 
governed  by  considerations  which  we 
cannot  even  dimly  apprehend.  Any  form 
of  roughness  close  to  the  open  spaces 
where  they  live,  such  as  tussocks  of 
coarse  grass,  briars,  bracken,  whins,  rough 
hedgerows  and  the  edges  of  young  planta- 
tions, are  the  favourite  spots ;  though  in 
these  times  of  over-tidy  farming  many  are 
driven  to  nest  in  the  open  fields,  where 
the  blades  of  the  hay-cutter  often  bring 
sudden  destruction  to  mother  and  nest 
alike.     They  have  a  strange  predilection 


NATURAL  HISTORY         47 

for  roadsides  and  foot-paths,  where  the 
nest  is  in  constant  danger  from  passing 
boys  and  wandering  dogs. 

Some  attribute  this  inconvenient  habit 
to  a  desire  for  grit,  which  can  thus  be 
found  quite  handy  to  the  nest ;  but  it 
seems  more  probable  that  this  strongly 
marked  tendency  is  rather  due  to  the  old 
birds  welcoming  the  proximity  of  an  open 
dry  space  where  they  can  take  their  young 
when  hatched. 

The  nest  is  a  circular  scrape  in  the 
bare  earth,  in  which  the  drab-coloured 
eggs  are  daily  laid,  till  the  full  number  of 
anything  between  ten  and  twenty  be 
reached.  Nests  with  larger  numbers,  as 
many  as  thirty  -  five  eggs  having  been 
recorded,  can  only  be  set  down  to  the 
joint  efforts  of  two  hens  laying  in  the  one 
nest.  Pheasants  are  sad  offenders  in  this 
respect ;  they  constantly  show  a  desire  to 
set  up  house  with  the  partridge  hens,  laying 
their  eggs  among  the  others,  to  the  serious 
detriment  of  the  family  arrangements. 

Partridges   rarely   lay   their   first   egg 


48  PARTRIDGES 

more  than  an  hour  or  so  before  noon,  each 
subsequent  egg  being  laid  a  little  later  in 
the  day. 

The  eggs  as  laid  are  covered  carefully 
with  leaves  and  grass,  which  saves  them 
from  late  frosts,  and  most  effectually  con- 
ceals the  nest.     When  laying  is  finished, 
the  birds  proceed  to  arrange  the  nest  for 
incubation,   now  placing   the  leaves  and 
grass   under    the    eggs,    which    are    then 
neatly  arranged  in  circles.     During  the 
two  days  or  so  that  they  are  thus  engaged, 
partridges  are,  for  some  reason,  peculiarly 
sensitive    to    any   disturbance,    and    will 
desert  altogether  if  interfered  with  in  any 
way.     The  hen  sits  for  three  weeks,  and 
like  others  of  the  gallinaceous  tribe  is  able 
to  secrete  her  natural  scent  while  sitting, 
which  serves  to  protect  her  from  her  many 
foes.     This  loss  of  scent  is  probably  in 
some  measure  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
feathers  are  all  pressed  close  to  the  body 
of  the  bird,  for  the  scent  returns  to  some 
extent  shortly  before  hatching,  when  the 
hen  ruffles  out  her  feathers. 


"  Jugging." 


NATURAL  HISTORY         49 

The  cock  takes  no  part  in  the  actual 
incubation,  but  remains  in  close  attend- 
ance on  the  hen  while  she  is  sitting. 
When  the  hen  indicates  that  the  eggs  are 
due  to  hatch,  the  cock  comes  and  sits  close 
alongside  of  the  nest,  waiting  patiently 
for  the  young  birds  to  emerge ;  he  then 
takes  them  under  his  wing,  one  by  one, 
as  the  hen  hands  them  over  to  him. 

Partridges,  though  generally  a  fairly 
hardy  and  healthy  race,  suffer  at  times 
from  various  diseases ;  in  a  wet  autumn 
numbers  die  from  inflammation  of  the 
lungs,  due  to  contact  with  the  wet  ground 
when  their  breasts  are  almost  denuded  of 
feathers  ;  enteritis  and  tuberculosis  will  at 
times  claim  their  toll  of  the  race  ;  while  in 
districts  where  poultry-farming  is  largely 
carried  on  terrible  epidemics  of  gapes 
occur  at  intervals,  especially  after  a  dry 
summer. 

When  overcrowded,  young  partridges 
are  liable  to  a  form  of  purulent  oph- 
thalmia, ending  in  total  blindness  or 
death. 

4 


50  PARTRIDGES 

Much  has  been  heard  of  recent  years 
about  a  mysterious  and  hitherto  unknown 
disease,  its  exact  nature  undiagnosed, 
which  is  said  to  have  decimated  the  par- 
tridges through  wide  districts  in  East 
Anglia  and  the  southern  counties,  and 
which  some  would  have  us  beUeve  will 
eventually  lead  to  the  extermination  of 
the  race,  if  no  measures  of  prevention  be 
adopted. 

Poisoning  by  arsenical  wheat  dressings, 
sickness  induced  by  new-fangled  chemical 
manures  and  sheep  dips,  contagion  from 
the  horde  of  Hungarians  which  have  been 
let  loose  among  our  native  birds,  and  a 
general  deterioration  of  the  partridge 
race  from  what  they  were  in  the  time  of 
our  fathers,  have  been  variously  assigned 
as  t\ie  fons  et  origo  malorum. 

But  the  fact  has  still  to  be  proved, 
before  the  causes  thereof  need  be  con- 
sidered. For  though  it  may  be  admitted 
that  occasional  partridges  have  died  from 
arsenical  poisoning,  and  that  there  has 
been  some  wasting  sickness  where  chemical 


NATURAL  HISTORY         51 

manures  have  been  freely  used  or  Hun- 
garians extensively  turned  out,  there  is 
still  no  weight  of  evidence  to  warrant  a 
conclusion  that  this  disease  can  be  dis- 
associated from,  or  indeed  be  regarded 
as  anything  but  the  natural  outcome  of, 
the  unhappy  succession  of  wet  summers. 
Where  fine  weather  at  hatching  time  is 
the  rule,  the  exceptional  cold  and  rain 
of  the  last  three  years  have  reduced  the 
stock  of  partridges  to  within  a  measurable 
distance  of  vanishing  point,  and  such 
districts  alone  constitute  the  supposed 
*  infected  area ' ;  in  harsher,  northern 
climates,  where  birds  are  better  able  to 
withstand  unfavourable  weather,  no  word 
is  heard  of  unusual  disease. 

If  in  the  years  of  plenty,  which  are 
surely  due,  partridges  continue  to  die  all 
the  year  round,  the  question  will  become 
one  of  urgency ;  but  in  the  meantime 
we  can  only  wait  and  see,  believing  that 
in  two  good  seasons  lies  the  surest  remedy 
for  the  decrease  of  partridges,  and  that 
this  evasive  and  nameless  disease  cannot 


52  PARTRIDGES 

be  regarded  as  a  normal  factor  in  the 
life  of  the  partridge. 

On  heavy  kinds  partridges  are  much 
troubled  by  the  soil  clogging  on  their 
feet.  A  ball  of  clay  is  formed,  which  will 
grow,  in  wet  weather,  till  the  unfortunate 
bird  can  scarcely  move,  and  is  left  by 
the  covey  to  pine  and  die.  In  some 
cases  this  ball  has  been  known  to  reach 
a  huge  size,  when  compared  to  the  pound 
or  so  of  the  bird's  own  weight.  Darwin 
mentions  having  taken  a  ball  weighing  6f 
ounces  from  the  foot  of  a  partridge,  and 
succeeded  in  growing  no  less  than  eighty- 
four  plants  from  seeds  contained  in  it. 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  what,  for 
the  partridge,  is  the  equivalent  of  the 
threescore  years  and  ten  of  man.  Fifteen 
to  seventeen  years  have  been  assigned  as 
the  limit,  but  whether  this  is  near  the 
mark  or  not  is  open  to  doubt ;  nor  is  this 
question  of  longevity  one  which  game- 
keepers can  afford  to  solve  for  themselves, 
for  on  all  preserved  ground  a  partridge 
ceases  to  be  at  all   a  desirable   resident 


NATURAL  HISTORY         53 

after  his  second  year.  Here  the  general 
welfare  of  the  race,  and  not  the  con- 
venience of  the  individual,  is  alone  to  be 
considered,  and  no  partridge  could  be 
allowed  to  reach  anything  approaching 
his  allotted  span  of  years,  whatever  they 
may  be,  without  serious  detriment  to  the 
rest  of  the  community.  The  ideal  state 
of  affairs,  from  the  game-preserver's  point 
of  view,  is  that  each  pair  of  birds  should 
fulfil  their  parental  duties  but  once,  or 
at  most  twice,  and  then,  having  achieved 
the  object  of  their  existence,  make  their 
exit,  leaving  it  to  their  offspring  to  carry 
on  the  race. 

Thus,  since  this  chapter  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  life-history  of  the  partridge, 
and  his  career  traced  through  the  various 
stages  of  his  existence,  we  may  now,  not 
inappropriately,  regard  his  life  as  having 
reached  its  fitting  termination,  and  con- 
clude by  following  him  to  the  scenes  of 
his  last  appearance — the  kitchen  and  the 
dining-room. 

On  the  table,  the  partridge  can  well 


54  PARTRIDGES 

bear  comparison  witli  any  other  game 
bird.  Gastronomically  considered,  a 
plump  young  English  partridge  must  be 
conceded  high  place  among  the  good  things 
of  this  world.  But  he  must  be  young 
and  he  must  be  English,  for  no  amount 
of  hanging  will  make  a  real  old  bird 
tender,  while  the  Frenchman  is  a  very 
inferior  article  in  this  respect,  lacking 
the  natural  juices  and  delicate  flavour  of 
our  native  bird. 

Given  young  birds,  well-conditioned 
and  properly  hung,  there  is  but  one  way 
to  use  them  to  the  best  advantage,  and 
that  the  simplest.  They  should  be  roasted 
on  the  spit  in  front  of  a  fire  made  up 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  produce  more 
flame  than  glowing  embers,  cooking  them 
not  enough  to  make  them  dry,  yet 
sufficiently  to  avoid  all  appearance  of 
being  underdone.  The  birds  while  being 
roasted  may  be  partly  covered  with  a 
thin  slice  of  larding  bacon ;  this  shields 
the  fillets  of  the  bird  from  drying,  while 
the   legs,    which    the    heat   takes    much 


NATURAL  HISTORY         55 

longer  to  penetrate  than  the  other  parts, 
are  cooking.  But  with  good  and  sufficient 
basting,  the  fillets  may  well  be  kept  from 
drying  even  without  this  precaution. 

This  is  by  far  the  most  satisfactory 
way,  and  does  full  justice  to  the  bird. 
The  alternative  of  roasting  in  the  oven 
is  very  inferior,  and  should  be  avoided 
whenever  it  is  possible.  In  the  closed 
oven  it  is  inevitable  that  steam  should 
collect  on  the  bird,  and  this  tends  to 
spoil  the  delicate  flavour,  which  it  is  so 
important  to  preserve.  When  circum- 
stances over  which  they  have  no  control 
make  it  necessary  for  cooks  to  use  the 
oven,  they  should  take  special  precautions 
to  neutralize  the  bad  effects  of  the  steam, 
but  where  a  closed  range  is  in  use,  it  only 
costs  a  few  shillings  to  add  a  bottle-jack 
and  roast  the  birds  in  the  proper  way. 

Served  at  once,  with  due  accompani- 
ment of  bread  sauce,  bread-crumbs,  and 
gravy  made  from  the  swilling  of  the  drip- 
ping pan,  roast  partridge  makes  a  dish, 
commonplace  if  you  will,  yet  comparing 


56  PARTRIDGES 

more  than  favourably  with  the  thousand- 
and-one  intricate  recipes  from  the  modern 
chef's  repertory,  of  which  more  anon. 

Such  birds  as  survive  the  ordeal  of 
the  dinner-table  should  be  eaten  cold  the 
next  day  without  any  further  culinary 
attention.  To  deal  with  old  birds  satis- 
factorily is  a  very  different  and  difficult 
question ;  probably  it  is  best  to  use  them 
only  in  the  preparation  of  game  stock  or 
forcemeats.  When  they  must  be  used 
for  the  table,  they  probably  appear  better 
as  yerdrioc  aux  chouoc  than  in  any  other 
form ;  a  common  and  homely  dish  on 
the  Continent,  though  far  rarer  in  this 
country  than  its  merits  deserve.  The 
methods  of  preparing  pei^diix  auoc  choux 
are  legion ;  one  simple  and  effective  way 
is  as  follows  : — 

Quarter  the  cabbage,  parboil  and  cool 
it.  Defoliate  the  quarters  ;  suppress  the 
outside  leaves  and  the  midribs  of  the 
remaining  leaves ;  season  with  salt  and 
pepper,  and  put  the  cabbage  in  a  sauce- 
pan garnished  with  slices  of  bacon,  and 


NATURAL  HISTORY         57 

containing  one  quartered  carrot,  one 
onion  stuck  with  a  garlic  clove,  one 
faggot,  two-thirds  pint  of  consomme,  and 
three  tablespoonfuls  of  stock  fat  per  2 
lbs.  of  cabbage.  Cover  the  old  partridges 
with  slices  of  bacon,  lay  them  in  the  bed 
of  cabbage  and  then  braise  gently  for 
two  to  three  hours. 

There  are  exactly  a  thousand-and-one 
other  ways  of  cooking  a  partridge,  but 
with  such  material  as  good  young  English 
birds  to  wprk  on,  any  treatment  but  the 
plainest  can  only  tend  towards  spoiling  a 
good  thing,  reminding  one  of  Browning's 
lines,  written,  it  is  true,  on  a  more 
romantic  theme — a  pretty  woman — yet 
here  apposite  enough  to  excuse  their  being 
put  to  baser  uses  : — 

Thus  the  craftsman  seeks  to  grace  the  rose, 

Plucks  a  mould  flower 

For  his  gold  flower, 
Uses  fine  things  that  efface  the  rose. 

In  like  fashion  the  many  fine  things 
which  a  modern  chef  uses  to  grace  the 
partridge  often  result  only  in  a  triumph 


58  PARTRIDGES 

of  culinary  art,  probably  very  unwhole- 
some, and  in  which  the  partridge  itself  is 
completely  lost. 

Most  of  these  over-elaborated  recipes 
were  either  devised  on  the  Continent, 
where  grey  partridges  are  not  always  to 
be  had,  to  give  savour  to  the  comparatively 
tasteless  redleg,  or  else  were  invented  in 
response  to  the  insensate  and  insatiate 
demand  for  novelties  to  tickle  the  jaded 
palate  of  a  certain  over- luxurious  class  of 
modern  society,  the  sort  of  people  for 
whom  the  best  is  not  quite  good  enough, 
a  class  with  which  let  us  hope  that  neither 
you,  my  gentle  reader,  nor  I  have  any- 
thing in  common. 

One  cunning  concoction  of  this  nature 
may  serve  as  a  fair  sample  of  the  rest ; 
and  indeed  this  one  is  not  without  a 
certain  historic  interest  of  its  own.  It 
is  thus  given  by  the  cordon  bleu  of  the 
Carlton  : — 

Perdrix  a  la  mode  d' Alcantara, 
At  the  beginning  of  the  campaign  of 


NATURAL  HISTORY         59 

1807  in  Portugal,  the  library  of  the  famous 
Alcantara  convent  was  pillaged  by  Junot's 
soldiers,  and  its  precious  manuscripts  used 
in  the  making  of  cartridges.  An  officer 
of  the  commissariat  who  was  present 
happened  on  an  old  book  of  recipes  selected 
by  the  monks,  and  among  them  the  one 
now  under  notice,  which  was  applied  only 
to  partridges. 

It  struck  him  as  interesting,  and  after 
trying  it  when  he  returned  to  France  in 
the  following  year,  he  gave  it  to  the 
Duchesse  D'Abrantes,  who  preserved  it 
in  her  memoirs.  It  was  perhaps,  as 
Monsieur  L'Escoffier  remarks  in  a  pathetic 
aside,  the  only  good  thing  the  French 
derived  from  that  unfortunate  campaign. 
Here  is  the  simple  little  dish  on  which  the 
worthy  monks,  who  among  other  things  if 
we  remember  aright  were  called  upon  to 
renounce  the  flesh,  used  to  regale  them- 
selves : — 

Empty  the  partridges  from  the  front ; 
bone  the  breasts  and  stuff  them  with  fine 
duck's  foies  gras,   mixed  with  quartered 


60  PARTRIDGES 

truffles,  cooked  in  port  wine.  Marinade 
the  partridges  for  three  days  in  port  wine 
and  a  litter  of  aromatics  (chopped  shallots, 
rosemary,  thyme,  bay,  and  parsley),  taking 
care  that  the  birds  be  well  covered  there- 
with. This  done,  cook  them  en  cassei^ole. 
Reduce  the  port  wine  of  the  marinade ; 
add  to  it  a  dozen  medium-sized  truffles ; 
set  the  partridges  on  these  truffles,  and 
heat  for  a  further  ten  minutes. 

To  which  our  authority  adds  this  note : — 
This  last  part  of  the  recipe  may  be  advan- 
tageously replaced  by  the  a  la  Souvaroff 
treatment — that  is  to  say,  having  placed 
the  partridge  and  the  truffles  in  a  terrine, 
sprinkle  them  with  the  reduced  port 
combined  with  slightly  buttered  game 
glaze ;  then  hermetically  seal  down  the 
lid  of  the  terrine,  and  complete  the  cook- 
ing in  the  oven. 

Junot  and  SouvarofF — there  is  un- 
doubtedly a  fine  Napoleonic  ring  about  this 
preparation,  but  whether  it  be  mere  insular 
prejudice  or  not,  still  I  would  as  lief  have 
my  partridges  cooked  in  simpler  guise. 


CHAPTER    III 

HISTOmCAL 

Early  records  of  partridge-shooting — Great  sportsmen 
of  the  eighteenth  century — Matches — England  v. 
Scotland  in  1816,  etc. — Methods  of  other  days. 

For  some  3000  years,  from  the  days  of 
Nineveh  and  Babylon,  whose  sculptured 
stones  bear  figures  of  falconers  with  their 
hawks  on  the  wrist,  down  to  our  own 
early  Hanoverian  times,  hawking  was  the 
one  gentlemanly  fashion  of  taking  the 
partridge.  Ousted  by  the  coming  of  the 
*vile  saltpetre,'  haggards  and  eyasses, 
sacres  and  sakerets,  lannerets,  tiercels, 
falcons  of  the  rock  and  falcons  gentle, 
with  their  lures,  varvels,  jesses  and  be- 
wits,  have  all  gone  their  way,  and  are 
now  to  us  only  sounds  without  meaning, 
though  the  intricate  and  comprehensive 

61 


62  PARTRIDGES 

language  of  the  sport  was  once  an  indis- 
pensable part  of  the  education  of  any  one 
who  could  pretend  to  gentle  blood. 

Now  only  our  London  *  mews ' — or 
'  places  where  hawks  are  kept ' — and  the 
somewhat  Gilbertian  office  of  Hereditary 
Grand  Falconer  of  England  remain  to 
remind  us  of  the  noble  art  of  Falconry, 
though  there  are  still  some  twenty  or 
thirty  country  gentlemen  in  England 
who  keep  and  fly  their  own  hawks.  Of 
the  twenty  kinds  of  falcons  and  hawks 
which  were  commonly  used  in  sport,  the 
peregrine  falcon,  the  goshawk,  and  the 
hen  sparrow-hawk  were  generally  used 
to  take  partridges. 

When  hawking  first  fell  out  of  favour, 
there  was  nothing  ready  to  take  its  place, 
for  the  fowling-piece  of  the  day  was  a 
cumbrous  and  unreliable  engine.  Thus 
while  arms  and  ammunition  were  slowly 
improving,  there  ensued  an  interregnum 
in  the  world  of  sport,  during  which  the 
practice  of  netting  partridges,  now  rightly 
considered      as      arrant     poaching,     was 


I 


HISTORICAL  63 

almost  universally  followed  by  country 
gentlemen. 

In  tlie  old  game  licences — to  qualify 
for  the  possession  of  which  landed  property 
of  a  fixed  value  or  the  rank  at  least  of 
esquire  was  necessary — besides  the  more 
legitimate  means  of  bows,  guns,  and  hawks, 
we  find  frequent  mention  of  "  setting  dogs 
and  lurchers,  hays,  nets,  lowbels,  snares, 
or  other  engines  to  take  game."  The 
birds  were  either  driven  into  a  fixed  net, 
or  else  found  by  dogs  trained  to  lie  down 
when  near  to  game  and  allow  the  net  to 
be  drawn  over  them  so  that  both  dog  and 
birds  were  entangled  in  the  toils. 

By  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury the  old  flint  and  steel  locks  had  been 
greatly  improved,  and  were  better  adapted 
for  the  -purposes  of  sport.  Shooting  be- 
came more  popular,  and  netting  was  no 
longer  considered  fit  sport  for  gentlemen. 
The  reign  of  George  III.  saw  a  marked 
advance  in  all  the  material  of  shooting ; 
double  barrels  now  came  into  use,  the  per- 
cussion  cap  and  the  patent  breech  were 


64  PARTRIDGES 

invented,  and  gunpowder  of  reliable  quality 
was  for  the  first  time  readily  obtainable. 
Even  then,  the  man  with  the  gun  must 
have  been  at  a  great  disadvantage  to  our 
notions  ;  in  the  Art  of  Sltootiiig  Flying 
explained,  published  in  1767,  'Aimweir 
gives  as  his  advice  to  the  'young 
practitioner ' — 

Briskly  draw  the  trigger  as  soon  as  you  have 
got  an  exact  sight  at  the  object,  and  continue 
to  keep  your  muzzle  at  it  for  some  time  after 
you  have  drawn  the  trigger,  lest  your  gun  should 
hang  fire,  which  if  it  happen  to  do  will  render 
your  shot  uncertain,  especially  if  your  mark  is 
moving  any  way  from  the  line  ;  but  by  means  of 
keeping  your  gun  in  motion  with  the  object,  a 
shot  may  be  recovered,  though  it  hangs  fire. 

When  one  considers  the  doubtful 
execution  of  a  piece  about  which  such 
advice  could  be  necessary,  the  tight  and 
unsuitable  attire  then  affected  by  sports- 
men, the  large  and  miscellaneous  assort- 
ment of  powder-horns,  dram-flasks,  shot- 
belts,  canisters,  wadding,  pivots,  copper 
caps  or  flints  carried  on  the  person  in 
the    field,   one   is   inclined   to   believe    in 


Partridgf.s  ox  Wixg. 


HISTORICAL  65 

Mr.  Aimwell's  final  dictum  that 

sport  is  very  uncertain,  and  even  the  best  marks- 
men have  oftentimes  their  miscarriages ;  you  may 
go  out  several  times  and  not  get  many  shoots, 
and  unless  a  man  is  very  alert,  and  strong  enough 
to  undergo  a  deal  of  fatigue,  he  can  attain  the  art 
of  shooting  flying  but  very  slowly. 

Still  the  sportsmen  of  other  days 
managed  to  get  quite  as  much  fun  out 
of  their  shooting — though  their  weapons 
were  uncertain  and  game  scarce  and  hard 
to  find — as  any  one  who  takes  part  in  the 
less  arduous  but  infinitely  more  produc- 
tive shooting  of  to-day.  We  have  only 
to  read  their  diaries,  to  find  a  naive, 
whole-hearted  enthusiasm  about  shooting 
in  general,  and  their  own  deeds  in  par- 
ticular, which  seems  somewhat  lacking 
among  their  descendants. 

The  third  Earl  of  Malmesbury,  who 
began  to  shoot  in  1798,  closed  the  long 
record  of  his  shooting  career  by  entering 
in  his  diary  that  in  40  seasons  he  had 
fired  54,987  shots,  killing  38,475  head  of 
game  (of  which  rather  more  than  the 
fourth    part    were    partridges),    walking 


66  PARTRIDGES 

36,200  miles  in  doing  so,  adding  in  con- 
clusion that  '*  during  these  40  seasons  I 
was — God  be  praised  for  it — never  con- 
fined to  my  bed  by  accident  or  sickness 
one  day." 

Shooting  then  called  for  the  exercise 
of  other  qualities  than  mere  accuracy  of 
aim,  and  the  man  with  the  gun  had  to 
possess  both  considerable  bodily  endurance 
and  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  ways 
and  habits  of  his  quarry,  if  he  looked  to 
make  good  bags — in  a  literal  sense — for 
the  products  of  a  day's  shooting  rarely 
exceeded  the  normal  capacity  of  a  game- 
bag.  But  one  would  be  sorry  to  ask 
many  of  the  present  generation  of  shooters 
to  walk  the  best  part  of  a  mile  for  every 
head  of  game  they  killed,  as  Lord  Malmes- 
bury  did.  The  demand  is  for  larger  and 
easier-won  results  in  these  days,  when  one 
gun  has  been  known  to  kill  300,000  head 
in  some  twenty-five  years. 

Another  of  the  old  school  was  the 
famous  Colonel  Peter  Hawker,  who 
followed  his  dogs  on  the  stubbles  of  Long- 


HISTORICAL  G7 

parish,  his  Hampshire  home,  and  punted 

after  the  geese  on  the  Solent,  for  the  first 

half  of  the  past  centmy.     The  Colonel 

wanted  no  hecatombs  of  slain  to  make 

him  a  day's  sport ;   he  would   cheerfully 

muster  all  hands  on  the  report  of  a  single 

pheasant  in  his  woods,  spend  the  whole 

day   in   pouring   rain   manoeuvring   after 

him,  and  come  home  in  the  evening  to 

enter  in  his  diary — "Never  had  a  more 

successful   day  in  my  life ;   outwitted  a 

magnificent  old  cock-pheasant." 

To    those   who    have    no    first  -  hand 

acquaintance  with  the  Colonel,  we  would 

effect  an  introduction  by  an  extract  from 

the  said  diary. 

1816.  Sept.  16th.  Never  in  my  life  had  such  a 
satisfactory  day*'s  shooting.  Although  the  birds 
were  rather  wild  than  otherwise  for  the  time  of 
year,  and  the  number  of  coveys  the  Longparish 
fields  contained  were  by  no  means  considerable, 
yet  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  bag  36  partridges 
and  1  hare  with  literally  never  missing  a  single 
shot  and  without  losing  one  bird.  I  had  8 
doublets  and  bagged  both  my  birds  every  time, 
and  having  once  killed  2  at  one  shot  with  my 
first  barrel,  I  made  37  head  of  game  in  36  shots. 


68  PARTRIDGES 

Had  I  at  all  picked  my  shots,  I  should  not  have 
thought  this  any  very  extraordinary  performance, 
but  so  far  from  this  a  great  number  of  my  birds 
were  killed  at  long  distances,  and  with  instant- 
aneous rapidity  of  shooting.  I  had  my  favourite 
14<-o:auffe  barrels  of  Joe  Manton's  and  Mr.  Butt's 
cylinder  gunpowder.  The  same  gun  all  day  which 
was  neither  cleaned  afresh  nor  even  new  flinted. 

1828.  Sept.  1st.  Longparish.  Strong  east 
wind ;  ground  as  dry  as  Lundyfoot's  snuff,  but  a 
moderate  breed  of  birds,  and  my  two  dogs  on  their 
last  legs.  Therefore  performed  a  miracle  by 
bagging  60  partridges  (besides  6  more  lost),  4 
hares  and  1  quail.  Never  in  my  life  had  such  a 
fagging  day.  Our  army  were  literally  worked  off 
their  feed,  to  the  joy  of  my  commissariat ;  but  they 
drank  their  extra  hog- tub  full  of  stiff  swizzle, 
which  cost  me  more  than  the  half  of  the  sheep 
that  they  left. 

3rd.  By  slaving  like  a  negro  from  10  till  5,  I 
contrived  to  satchel  48  partridges  (besides  3  brace 
lost).  Weather  so  dry  that  the  only  plan  was  to 
walk  all  day  with  both  barrels  cocked,  and  snap 
down  the  birds  as  they  rose  wild  from  the 
stubbles. 

6th.  Was  anxious  to  finish  with  20  brace,  and 
never  had  such  a  hard  run  to  make  up  the  number. 
The  dogs  were  so  done  that  even  the  falling  of  a 
bird  would  not  move  them  from  my  heels,  and  I 
stood  at  19  J  brace  for  the  last  hour  before  night- 
fall.    I  had  no  alternative  but  marching  up  and 


HISTORICAL  69 

down  at  a  rapid  pace,  without  dogs,  and  treading 
the  stubbles  till  I  was  ready  to  drop,  but  deter- 
mined to  die  game.  I  fought  to  the  last,  but 
through  over-anxiety  and  fatigue,  I  missed  two 
fair  shots ;  but,  at  last,  just  at  the  farewell  of 
daylight  a  covey  rose  from  the  feed.  I  '  up  gun  ^ 
and  down  came  a  bird  as  dead  as  a  hammer,  a 
long  shot ;  so  gave  three  cheers  (the  butcher's 
halloo  for  20  brace)  and  came  home  in  triumph 
with  40  partridges  on  a  pole. 

Thus  far  the  Colonel,  no  bad  type  of 
the  old  English  country  gentleman,  albeit 
a  man  of  the  world  and  no  mean  musician 
to  boot.  If  these  samples  have  interested 
any,  we  can  recommend  the  whole  diary, 
preserved  for  us  by  the  hands  of  Sir 
Ralph  Payne  Gallwey.  A  good  book 
for  the  *  young  idea,'  wherein  a  later 
generation  may  take  a  lesson  in  pluck  and 
endurance,  for  the  Colonel  would  never 
own  himself  beat,  handicapped  though  he 
was  by  somewhat  indifferent  general 
health  and  an  unserviceable  leg,  for  his 
thigh  was  shattered  by  a  ball  at  Talavera, 
when  serving  with  his  regiment,  the  14th 
Light  Dragoons. 

As    guns    and    powder    improved   in 


ro  PARTRIDGES 

quality,  and  the  reduction  in  their  cost 
placed  them  within  reach  of  almost  any 
one,  the  necessity  for  game  being  pre- 
served first  became  a  matter  of  importance. 
So  long  as  shooters  were  but  few  in  the 
land,  and  their  means  of  destruction  so 
faulty,  game  contrived  to  take  care  of 
itself,  little  preservation  was  necessary, 
and  sportsmen  thought  it  no  crime  to 
wander  on  to  other  folk's  ground  and 
sample  the  game  there.  But  with  an 
ever-increasing  horde  of  shooters,  it  soon 
became  a  question  of  either  game  becom- 
ing extinct  or  measures  being  taken  for 
its  preservation,  and  thus,  of  necessity, 
came  the  game  laws  and  their  enforce- 
ment. With  the  sixties  came  further 
advance,  Laing  introducing  the  breech- 
loader from  France,  a  weapon  of  some- 
what uncertain  results  at  the  time,  but 
which  fifty  years  of  steady  improvement 
has  developed  into  the  hammerless  ejector 
of  to-day. 

However  superficially  the   history  of 
shooting  in  this  country  be   considered, 


HISTORICAL  71 

one  striking  feature  cannot  fail  to  arrest 
the  attention  —  how,  step  by  step,  the 
improvement  of  guns  and  shooting  has 
been  attended  by  a  proportionate  increase 
of  game.  So  far,  the  supply  has  kept 
pace  with  the  demand ;  but  the  limit 
must  nearly  have  been  reached ;  no 
ground  will  carry  more  than  a  certain 
stock,  however  good  the  systems  of  pre- 
servation, and  if  there  be  still  further 
advance  in  our  seemingly  perfect  sporting 
weapons,  game  will  surely  be  the  sufferer. 
To  return  to  our  records  of  the  past. 

In  other  days  it  was  the  fashion — 
happily  now  discountenanced  in  every 
form  of  sport  worthy  of  the  name — to 
stake  large  sums  of  money  on  shooting 
events.  The  actual  stakes  were  not  often 
very  heavy,  but  betting  went  on  apace, 
until  the  champions  went  out  for  a  day's 
partridge-shooting  with  thousands  depend- 
ing on  the  result.  Thus  while  Lord  de 
Roos,  Colonel  Hon.  George  Anson  and 
Captain  Ross  were  passing  a  hot  July 
afternoon  in  1828  on  the  river,  a  casual 


72  PARTRIDGES 

discussion  arose  as  to  whether  Captain 
Ross,  admittedly  the  finest  pigeon  shot 
of  the  day,  would  hold  his  own  as  easily 
at  game.  Before  they  reached  Whitehall 
Stairs,  the  terms  of  a  match  had  been 
arranged,  I^ord  de  Roos  backing  himself 
to  find  a  champion  to  shoot  partridges 
against  Captain  Ross  for  £200  a  side  on 
his  own  shootings  at  Milden  in  Suffolk  ; 
the  match  to  be  decided  in  a  single  day, 
the  1st  of  November,  the  guns  to  walk 
forty  or  fifty  yards  apart,  shooting  from 
sunrise  to  sunset  without  any  halt ;  no 
dogs  to  be  used. 

Lord  de  Roos  chose  Colonel  Anson 
as  his  champion,  and  the  match  duly 
came  off,  with  unusually  heavy  betting 
on  the  result.  Lord  Anson  offering  to 
back  his  brother  for  £10,000.  The  guns 
paraded  in  the  dark,  and  started  at  sun- 
rise by  the  watch  in  a  thick  mist. 
Colonel  Anson  set  the  pace,  estimated 
at  between  4^  and  5  miles  an  hour,  and 
they  kept  this  up  to  within  a  quarter  of 
an   hour   of   sunset,   when   the   Colonel, 


HISTORICAL  73 

leading  by  one  bird,  found  himself  unable 
to  go  any  further,  and  sent  his  seconds 
to  offer  a  draw,  which  Captain  Ross, 
who  was  still  going  as  strong  as  ever, 
accepted,  because  he  found  it  impossible 
to  get  a  shot,  the  birds  being  all  out 
feeding  on  the  stubbles. 

The  number  of  birds  killed  was  very 
small,  only  some  25  brace ;  which  was 
scarcely  to  be  wondered  at,  considering 
how  late  in  the  season  it  was,  and  that 
the  guns  were  accompanied  by  two  or 
three  hundred  men  on  horseback,  all 
talking  and  betting  on  the  shot,  and 
making  what  Captain  Ross  calls  an  **  in- 
describable row."  When  the  draw  was 
declared,  Captain  Ross,  who,  it  must  be 
remembered,  had  just  walked  close  on 
forty- five  miles  in  nine  hours,  offered 
there  and  then  to  start  against  any  one 
present  and  race  him  on  foot  to  London, 
some  seventy  miles,  for  £500  a  side,  but 
found  no  takers  among  the  five  or  six 
hundred  people  present. 

Such  ghmpses  of  the  past  are  surely 


74  PARTRIDGES 

enough  to  make  us  blush  for  our  own 
generation  of  sportsmen,  young  gentlemen 
still  on  the  sunny  side  of  thirty,  who 
call  an  eight  o*clock  breakfast  "getting 
up  in  the  middle  of  the  night,"  must  have 
a  motor  to  take  them  within  a  few  yards 
of  the  first  drive,  their  guns  carried  for 
them  from  one  stand  to  the  next,  and 
an  aluminium  shooting  seat  to  support 
their  weary  forms  at  every  halt.  Truly 
there  were  giants  in  those  days. 

The  match  of  most  personal  interest 
to  myself  is  naturally  that  shot  between 
England  and  Scotland,  in  which  my  home 
was  selected  to  represent  Scotland.  From 
the  windows  of  the  room  wherein  I  write 
can  be  seen  the  outline  of  a  long  wood 
of  dark  firs,  where  grand  sport  is  to  be 
had  with  the  pigeon  on  a  blustering 
winter's  evening.  This  wood  owes  its 
name — Waterloo — to  the  great  slaughter 
of  partridges  effected  in  the  then  newly- 
planted  strip  by  Lord  Kennedy  on  the 
day  of  his  match. 

My  grandfather.  Sir  William  Maxwell 


HISTORICAL  75 

of  Monreith,  resenting  an  account  pub- 
lished of  the  match,  in  which  it  was  stated 
that  *'Mr.  Coke  of  course  won  easily," 
wrote  a  description  of  the  event,  which 
I  cannot  do  better  than  give  here  in  his 
own  words. 

Here  is  the  account  of  the  match  shot  by 
Lord  Kennedy  in  October  1823 :  I  was  present 
all  the  time.  My  father  made  a  bet,  with  I 
forget  whom,  that  he  would  find  a  man  to  shoot 
a  hundred  brace  of  partridges  in  one  day  on  his 
estate  in  Wigtownshire.  He  asked  Lord  Kennedy 
to  do  it  for  him,  who,  after  pronouncing  it  im- 
possible, backed  himself  to  shoot  partridges  two 
days  in  Scotland  against  Mr.  W.  Coke  in  Norfolk, 
in  the  month  of  October,  on  two  days  to  be 
fixed ;  chance  of  weather,  etc.,  to  be  run  by  both 
parties.  Lord  Kennedy  had  intended  to  shoot 
his  first  day  at  Newton  Don,  near  Kelso,  and  was 
not  expected  at  Monreith  for  ten  days.  My 
father^  w,as  from  home,  and  I,  only  a  boy  of 
seventeen,  here  to  receive  him.  He  had  travelled 
all  night,  and  arrived  at  Port  William,  a  neigh- 
bouring village,  about  9  a.m.  Hearing  of  his 
arrival,  I  went  and  found  him,  Valentine  Maher 
(umpire  for  Coke),  and  Farquharson  of  Blackball, 

^  Sir  William  Maxwell,  5th  Bart.,  locally  known  as 
^  VVunged  Sir  Wulliam/  having  lost  an  arm  from  a  round 
shot  when  commanding  the  26th  Regiment  at  Corunna. 


76  PARTRIDGES 

just    finishing    breakfast,    surrounded    by   game- 
keepers and  dogs  of  his  own. 

Lord  Kennedy  gave  me  a  letter  he  had  from 
Sir  Alexander  Don,  saying  he  could  not  ensure 
him  twenty  brace  of  birds  at  Newton  Don,  as 
the  corn  w^as  all  uncut,  and  advising  him  to  shoot 
both  the  days  of  his  match  with  Coke  at  Monreith  ; 
in  consequence  of  which  he  had  posted  day  and 
night,  in  order  to  be  here  in  time  for  the  first 
appointed  day  (as  well  as  for  the  one  hundred 
brace  match).  I  told  Lord  Kennedy  I  could  not 
let  him  go  on  the  ground  kept  for  the  one 
hundred  brace  match.  I  went  off  in  search  of 
our  gamekeeper.  He  said,  at  that  hour  in  the 
day  he  could  only  take  him  to  ground  which  had 
been  shot  over  in  September,  or  some  which  had 
been  driven  and  disturbed  with  a  view  to  the  one 
hundred  brace  match. 

About  eleven  o'clock  Lord  Kennedy  started, 
and  that  day  got  between  forty  and  fifty  brace ; 
Coke  shooting  the  same  day  at  Holkham  ninety- 
three  brace.  My  father  came  home  in  the 
evening,  having  been  nearly  lost  in  a  gale  of 
wind  the  previous  night  in  his  yacht.  He  wished 
Lord  Kennedy  to  stay  and  walk  over  the  ground 
before  the  second  day  of  the  match ;  but  he  did 
not,  and  only  returned  on  the  evening  before  the 
second  day's  shooting. 

On  that  day  (the  one  on  which  the  hundred 
brace  match  was  to  be  decided),  at  11.30  a.m., 
when  Lord  Kennedy  stopped  to  refresh  at  a  farm- 


HISTORICAL  77 

house,  he  had  sixty  brace  in  his  bag,  and  the  best 
of  the  ground  before  him  ;  a  fine  still  day.  We 
had  ready  for  him  a  brace  of  steady  old  setters, 
but  he  would  not  shoot  a  bird  over  them,  insisting 
on  using  his  own  black  pointers,  never  before  shot 
over  except  on  moors ;  neither  would  he  go  to 
coveys  marked  into  whins  and  broken  ground  ;  he 
seemed  to  think  that  would  not  be  fair,  although 
Maher,  umpire  for  Coke,  agreed  that  he  ought  to 
do  so. 

The  only  'hedge'  my  father  had  to  a  heavy 
book  was  a  bet  of  some  twenty  guineas  that  Lord 
Kennedy  would  not  get  a  shot  in  twenty  minutes, 
if  he  persevered  over  a  line  of  bare  grass  fields, 
instead  of  going  to  the  marked  and  driven  coveys. 

As  it  was,  he  got  ninety-three  brace  and  a  half, 
and  Coke  at  Holkham  ninety-six.  I  think  these 
were  the  numbers ;  at  any  rate,  neither  of  them 
made  the  hundred  brace  to  bag,  while  each  shot 
more  than  ninety  brace.  A  great  many  dead 
birds  were  picked  up  here  afterwards.  Both  Val. 
Maher  and  Farquharson  were  disappointed  in 
Lord  Kennedy's  shooting.  I  have  never  seen  any- 
thing like  it.  Certainly  very  few  birds  were 
missed,  and  the  whole  ground  was  strewed  with 
cripples  for  days  afterwards.  I  recollect  my 
father  saying  nothing  on  earth  would  induce  him 
to  allow  another  match  on  his  ground.  I  am 
convinced  Lord  Kennedy  killed  and  'kiW  120 
brace  that  day. 

He  shot  homewards,  and  during  the  last  two 


78  PARTRIDGES 

hours  of  daylight  lost  a  deal  of  time  by  his  dogs 
bothering  with  hares  and  pheasants  going  out  to 
feed,  and  his  last  two  shots  were  a  cock  and  hen 
pheasant. 

None  of  us  had  the  least  doubt — nor,  after 
the  event,  had  Lord  Kennedy  himself — that  he 
would  have  killed  over  one  hundred  brace  had  he 
shot  over  our  old  dogs  and  gone  where  our  game- 
keepers advised.  I  remember  being  told  that 
Coke  had  his  birds  driven  into  turnips,  and  shot 
over  an  old  pointer  'as  slow  as  a  man"*  both 
days. 

Wigtownshire  beaten  by  Norfolk,  for  two  days, 
was  by  no  means  a  matter  of  course  in  those  days. 

On  a  neighbouring  estate  Lord  Garlics  backed 
himself  to  shoot  fifty  brace  in  one  day  the  year 
before.  No  preparation — no  driving  of  birds. 
Despite  a  bad  start  through  a  wet  and  stormy 
morning,  when  the  wind  fell  and  the  sun  came  out 
he  made  such  good  use  of  his  time  that  he  stopped 
at  three  o'clock,  having  killed  some  fifty-six  brace, 
after  offering  to  double  his  bet  that  he  would 
shoot  eighty  brace ;  but  the  ease  with  which  it 
miffht  be  done  was  so  evident  that  no  one  would 

CD 

take  it. 

I  have  little  doubt  that  if  Lord  Garlics  had 
undertaken  our  match  instead  of  Lord  Kennedy 
we  should  have  won ;  not  that  Lord  G.  was 
the  better  shot  of  the  two,  but  he  would  have 
taken  advice  and  kept  his  temper  better. 

Alas  that  Galloway  should  have  fallen 


HISTORICAL  79 

so  far  from  her  high  estate  in  the  sporting 
world  since  those  halcyon  days.  I  have 
often  seen  this  instanced  as  the  results  of 
bad  management  and  slackness  in  pre- 
serving, but  this  has  little  to  do  with  the 
matter.  Slackness  and  want  of  method 
there  may  be,  but  in  the  disuse  of  the 
plough  lies  our  real  trouble.  Formerly 
every  available  acre  was  cultivated,  but 
now  we  have  three  or  four  grass  fields  to 
one  that  is  under  crop.  Where  this  is 
the  case,  no  human  skill  can  produce  a 
big  stock  of  partridges,  as  stocks  are 
reckoned  nowadays. 

We  can  still  show  good  sport,  drives 
from  some  turnip-field  bordering  on  the 
moorland,  where  you  shall  have  fair  chance 
of  killing  every  form  of  game,  from  a 
blackcock  to  a  snipe,  at  the  one  stand, 
but  for  partridges  alone  we  can  never 
again  hope  to  compete  with  Norfolk  on 
equal  terms,  nor  indeed  with  neighbours 
on  our  own  East  coast,  where  probably 
only  one  field  in  four  is  pasture. 


CHAPTER   TV 

PRESERVATION    AND    MANAGEMENT 

Partridge  ground,  good  and  bad — Keepers  and  their  work 
— The  various  systems  of  modern  preservation. 

Perhaps  the  simplest  way  to  deal  with 
the  questions  of  partridge  ground  good 
and  bad,  and  the  preservation  and 
management  thereof,  will  be  to  take  as 
example  an  estate  without  a  single  *  crab ' 
to  it — the  sort  of  place  one  dreams  of 
sometimes  after  a  good  dinner,  but  never 
meets  with  in  real  life — and  consider  in 
some  detail  the  leading  features  and  char- 
acteristics of  this  earthly  paradise.  Need- 
less to  say,  this  gem  without  flaw  is  not 
one  which  any  one  can  hope  to  materialize 
in  all  respects,  but  it  is  the  right  way  to 
set  about  things,  to  set  up  an  unattainable 
ideal — "  to  hitch  your  waggon  to  a  star," 

80 


i^— r 


'Ifr 


"^r 


(i)  CiooD  Xestixg  Ground. 


(2)  Bad  Xesting  Ground. 


PRESERVATION  81 

as  Emerson  says — and  see  how  closely, 
with  the  more  limited  means  at  our 
disposal,  we  may  attain  to  it  in  practice. 

It  may  also  serve  as  some  guide  for 
any  would-be  owners  or  lessees  of 
partridge  -  shootings,  who  are  not  well 
acquainted  with  the  business,  as  to  what 
points  should  be  borne  in  mind  in  apprais- 
ing the  worth  of  a  shooting.  Our  estate, 
then,  is  of  some  8000  acres  in  extent, 
wide  enough  scope  to  make  of  it  a  little 
world  of  our  own,  yet  not  of  such  size  as 
would  render  it  unhandy  to  manage  or 
unwieldy  to  supervise.  It  all  lies  in  a 
ring  fence,  with  no  awkward  projections 
of  land  into  neighbours'  territory,  or  in- 
cursion of  Naboth's  vineyards  among  our 
own  farms. 

The  general  lie  of  the  ground  is  gently 
undulating,  with  long,  level  slopes  of  a 
warm  and  sunny  exposure.  On  every 
side  the  estate  marches  with  other  large 
and  well-preserved  manors,  and  the  whole 
length  of  the  boundary,  principles  of 
*give    and    take'   work    to   the   mutual 


82  PARTRIDGES 

advantage  of  all.  This  is  an  important 
consideration,  for  if,  as  is  only  too 
commonly  the  case,  the  neighbouring 
ground  suffers  unduly  from  powder  and 
shot,  there  will  be  a  steady  drain  on  your 
young  birds  to  replenish  a  depleted  stock, 
while  unpreserved  ground  harbours  an  un- 
limited supply  of  vermin,  which  periodic- 
ally swarm  over  the  boundary,  joyfully 
to  take  possession  of  your  swept  and 
garnished  house,  giving  the  keepers  all 
their  work  to  do  over  again.  The  climate 
is  as  equable  and  dry  as  may  be  looked 
for  in  these  islands,  such  rainfall  as  there 
is  being  well  distributed,  and  storms  of 
rare  occurrence. 

The  soil  is  light  but  mixed,  light  loam 
and  sandy  ground  predominating,  with 
some  admixture  of  stronger  and  heavier 
land.  Scattered  over  the  estate,  small 
patches  of  waste  and  sandy  land,  not 
repaying  the  labour  of  cultivation,  and 
covered  with  bracken,  whins,  and  heath, 
make  splendid  natural  nesting-ground  and 
shelter.     With  this  exception,  and  omit- 


PRESERVATION  83 

ting  the  500  acres  of  park  and  policies, 
practically  the  whole  estate  is  cultivated 
on  a  four  years'  course,  most  of  the  land 
being  too  light  to  be  laid  down  in  per- 
manent pasture.  This  is,  of  course,  an 
essential  condition  if  you  wish  the  land  to 
carry  a  heavy  stock  of  partridges,  and  in 
many  parts  of  the  country  the  ever- 
increasing  waste — to  the  game  preserver's 
eye  —  of  land  laid  down  in  permanent 
grass  presents  a  partridge  problem  of 
which  no  solution  seems  possible.  The 
ground  is  fortunate  in  being  well  watered 
by  a  number  of  springs  and  streamlets, 
and  a  dry  summer  can  be  faced  with 
equanimity. 

No  main  line  of  railway,  with  deadly 
maze  of  telegraph  wires,  crosses  the  estate; 
roads,  footpaths,  and  rights-of-way  are  not 
inordinate  in  number,  while  the  popula- 
tion is  purely  agricultural  and  the  farms 
above  the  average  in  size.  The  fields  run 
big,  some  reaching  60  to  80  acres ;  they 
are,  for  the  most  part,  divided  by  solid 
earthen  banks  with  sloping  sides,  which, 


84  PARTRIDGES 

fenced  on  either  side  and  planted  with 
broom,  provide  the  best  of  ground  for 
birds  to  nest  in.  There  are  no  ditches  to 
trap  young  birds.  The  whole  ground  is 
further  divided  into  squares  of  from  200 
to  250  acres  by  belts  of  hardwood  trees, 
standing  ten  to  twenty  deep  and  some  50 
feet  in  height.  These  again  provide  sites 
for  hundreds  of  nests,  and  are  invaluable 
for  the  purposes  of  driving  in  the  autumn 
and  for  shelter  at  all  times. 

On  this  Utopian  manor  of  ours  the 
ground  is  watched  and  the  game  cared  for 
by  a  most  efficient  staff.  First  there  is 
the  head-keeper,  on  whose  qualities  the 
welfare  of  the  shooting  so  largely  depends. 
He  is  one  of  the  modern  school,  vigorous, 
alert,  and  enterprising  ;  perhaps  not  such 
an  entertaining  companion  by  flood  and 
field  as  the  veterans  of  other  days  ;  he  may 
fail  to  amuse  by  quaint  turn  of  phrase  or 
picturesque  appearance,  nor  will  he  have 
the  time  to  turn  and  saunter  along  with 
you  for  half  an  hour's  leisurely  conversa- 
tion when  you  chance  to  meet. 


PRESERVATION  85 

But  he  is  the  riglit  stamp  of  man  for 
all  that ;  courteous  to  all  and  yet  familiar 
with  none,  considerate  of  the  interests 
of  others  yet  never  unmindful  of  his 
master's,  he  has  justly  earned  the  respect 
of  the  whole  countryside.  Fair  and  just 
in  all  his  dealings,  his  underlings  know 
that  while  good  work  will  not  pass  un- 
recognized, no  slovenly  or  slipshod  ways 
will  be  for  an  instant  condoned.  He  has 
no  slight  knowledge  of  natural  history, 
and  moves  through  life  with  an  observant 
eye  and  an  open  and  adaptive  mind,  not 
wedded  to  tradition,  but  ever  ready  to 
consider  new  theories  or  suggestions  and 
turn  them  to  his  purpose.  In  the  field  he 
never  gets  hustled  or  flurried,  and  is  quick 
to  make  the  best  of  unlooked-for  contin- 
gencies when  they  arise.  His  books  are 
accurately  and  neatly  kept,  and  require 
little  or  no  endorsement  at  the  hands  of 
the  agent ;  for  he  is  a  business  man  with 
all  his  energies  and  faculties  concentrated 
on  his  work,  only  asking  of  his  sub- 
ordinates what  he  freely  gives  himself — 


86  PARTRIDGES 

cheerful  and  ungrudging  service  and  a 
whole-hearted  devotion  to  duty. 

Not  a  man  to  be  pitied  our  head- 
keeper,  despite  all  Mr.  Owen  Jones  says 
about  keepering  being  such  a  badly  paid 
profession.  As  head  on  a  large  estate  he 
draws  £70  to  £80  a  year  in  wages,  £30  to 
£50  a  year  in  tips,  with  a  good  house, 
garden,  and  the  usual  allowances ;  better 
pay  than  many  a  struggling  parson  can 
look  for — and  as  he  is  really  fond  of  his 
work  for  its  own  sake,  our  keeper  may  be 
fairly  considered  as  one  who  is  contented 
with  his  lot — which  is  no  small  thing  to 
be  in  this  restless  generation.  Finally,  he 
is  a  good  master  to  his  dogs,  careful  of 
their  welfare,  patient  with  their  education, 
and  proud  of  their  appearance  and  per- 
formances in  the  field. 

There  are  eight  other  keepers  on  the 
estate  ;  with  two  of  these  we  have  no  con- 
cern here,  for  their  duties  lie  entirely 
within  the  demesne  where  the  two 
thousand  pheasants  which  furnish  the 
annual  covert  shoot  are  reared  and  main- 


PRESERVATION  87 

tained.  The  duties  of  the  remaining  six 
underlings  are  solely  confined  to  the  part- 
ridges ;  each  has  his  own  beat  to  look 
after,  each  beat  compact  and  self-con- 
tained, and  varying  in  size  from  the  700 
acre  beat  round  the  village,  with  small 
fields  bounded  by  rough  hedges  and  much 
intersected  by  roads  and  paths,  to  the 
1500  acre  beat  where  the  fields  are  large 
and  open,  with  little  rough  ground  to 
harbour  vermin  or  increase  the  difficulty 
of  finding  the  nests. 

The  under-keepers  also  belong  to  the 
modern  school ;  they  are  to  a  man  young, 
brisk,  intelligent,  and  hard-working ;  well- 
disciplined,  they  are  still  quite  ready  to 
accept  responsibility  on  occasion.  They 
are  not  permanencies,  as  they  all  mean  to 
make  their  way  in  the  world.  Meantime, 
though  they  have  a  hard  life  and  draw 
but  modest  wages,  they  are  having  the 
finest  training  in  the  world  for  their  pro- 
fession. Five  years'  insight  into  the  work- 
ings of  a  really  well-managed  estate  is 
worth  half  a  lifetime  of  casual  experience. 


88  PARTRIDGES 

and  will  fit  a  man  with  his  wits  about  him 
and  his  heart  in  the  work  for  any  head- 
keeper's  place.     The  conditions  and  sur- 
roundings may  be  very  dissimilar,  but  his 
education  will  apply  anywhere.     He  will 
have   learnt   to   work   hard    himself  and 
expect  others  to  work  hard  under  him  ;  to 
live  on  good  terms  with  all  those  around 
him,  while  avoiding  undue  familiarity  with 
any  ;  to  move   about   his   business   with 
energy,  never  quite  satisfied  with  the  past, 
always  seeking  to  do  a  little  better  in  the 
future ;  to  profit  by  failures,  working  out 
for   himself  how  and  why   things   went 
wrong  ;  and  finally  to  take  an  honest  pride 
in  himself  and  his  work.     If  they  want 
their  shootings  run  efficiently  and  economi- 
cally, proprietors  when  selecting  a  head- 
keeper  should  always  consider  what  school 
he  has  been  trained  in  rather  than  what  is 
the  actual  range  of  his  experience. 

So  we  lose  the  services  of  one  or  other 
of  the  under-keepers  most  years.  This 
does  not  in  practice  prove  such  a  handicap 
as  would  appear,  for  the  head-keeper  has 


PRESERVATION  89 

always  got  his  eye  on  some  likely  lad,  and 
the  infusion  of  fresh  blood  is,  on  the  whole, 
healthy,  and  tends  to  keep  things  alive. 

The  keeper's  year  may  now  be  said  to 
begin  with  the  calendar,  for  the  driving 
is  all  over  before  the  end  of  December. 
The  regular  shooting  once  finished,  a  man 
is  rarely  taken  off  his  beat,  for  it  is 
recognized  that  there  is  quite  enough  work 
on  his  own  ground  to  keep  his  time  well 
filled. 

The  first  three  months  are  given  up  to 
getting  the  ground  in  order  for  the  nesting 
season.  Odd  cock  pheasants  have  to  be 
pursued  and  killed,  any  superfluous  hares 
taken  off  the  ground,  and  wounded  and 
wasting  partridges  cleared  off.  Then  the 
rabbits  have  to  be  taken  in  hand,  and 
trapped  and  shot  to  the  verge  of  extinc- 
tion, or  they  will  multiply  apace  and  give 
trouble  later  on.  When  foxes  are  pre- 
served rabbits  are  of  some  value  in 
occupying  their  attentions,  but  otherwise 
they  are  an  unmitigated  nuisance  on 
partridge   ground,    a    prolific    source    of 


90  PARTRIDGES 

trouble,  and  a  standing  attraction  to 
vermin.  Then  the  nesting-ground  has 
all  to  be  thoroughly  gone  over,  gaps  in 
hedges  filled,  fences  repaired,  game  covers 
trimmed  and  their  banks  strengthened — 
not  work  that  the  keeper  has  actually  to 
do  himself,  but  the  necessity  for  which 
he  must  note  and  point  out  to  the  estate 
authorities,  or  it  is  apt  to  be  overlooked. 

Finally,  and  by  far  the  most  important 
of  all,  the  early  spring  is  the  season  to 
seriously  tackle  the  ever-present  question 
of  vermin.  Desultory  warfare  there 
always  is  between  the  keeper  and  the 
carnivora,  but  now  stoats,  weasels,  hedge- 
hogs, and  cats  must  be  sought  for  and 
trapped  with  unremitting  energy.  Crows, 
magpies,  and  sparrow-hawks  have  to  be 
found  and  singled  out  for  destruction, 
before  other  matters  begin  to  press. 
Each  beat-keeper  is  constantly  round  his 
ground  at  this  season,  with  spade,  ferret, 
and  traps.  Every  trace  of  his  enemies 
is  carefully  noted  ;  tracks,  droppings,  even 
a  dead  rabbit  all  tell  their  own  tale,  and 


PRESERVATION  91 

clearly  bespeak  their  origin  to  the  pro- 
fessional eye.  Besides  the  common  gin, 
each  keeper  knows  how  to  use  snares, 
deadfall,  and  figure  -  of  -  four  traps  on 
occasion,  and  has  a  large  *  hugger'  trap 
for  the  special  edification  of  poaching 
dogs  and  cats.  Every  rabbit  hole  in  the 
banks  and  hedgerows,  once  cleared  of  its 
occupants,  is  carefully  filled  up,  lest  it 
should  acquire  new  tenants  or  serve  to 
harbour  wandering  vermin.  The  use  of 
the  gun  is  not  encouraged  among  the 
keepers,  its  employment  only  being 
sanctioned  where  the  trap  and  the  spade 
are  useless. 

Vermin  money  is  never  allowed,  for 
we  hold  that  it  would  be  working  on 
quite  a  wrong  principle  to  allow  extra 
pay — as  if  it  was  for  something  quite 
outside  his  ordinary  work — for  perhaps 
the  most  important  of  a  keeper's  regular 
duties.  This  widespread  custom  further 
places  a  dangerous  temptation  in  a  young 
man's  path,  and  there  have  been  many 
instances   of  keepers  treating  vermin  as 


92  PARTRIDGES 

**the  goose  that  lays  the  golden  eggs," 
and  practically  farming  them  on  a  small 
scale,  to  their  own  profit  and  the  detri- 
ment of  the  ground.  Reprehensible,  no 
doubt,  but  very  natural,  and  if  instead  of 
paying  a  shilling  for  a  sparrow-hawk  in 
April  you  have  to  allow  five  shillings  for 
five  hawks  in  August,  when  all  the  mis- 
chief has  been  done,  you  have  really  only 
yourself  to  thank. 

While  on  the  subject  of  allowances,  it 
may  also  be  noted  that  farming  by  the 
keepers  is  not  countenanced  ;  each  keeper 
may  have  his  cow,  but  it  is  considered 
that  his  work,  if  properly  attended  to, 
will  not  allow  him  spare  time  enough  to 
keep  and  look  after  stock.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  under-keepers  are  well  treated  ; 
their  wages  are  above  the  average,  each 
man  getting  from  £l  a  week,  a  good 
house,  coals,  and  a  cow's  grass.  In 
addition  each  receives  annually  a  suit 
of  the  uniform  worn  on  the  estate,  a 
tough  and  serviceable  homespun  of  dis- 
tinctive pattern,  and  a  thick  waterproof 


PRESERVATION  98 

cloak  for  night-watching,  renewed  when 
necessary. 

In  a  work  on  keepers  and  their  hves 
published  last  year,^  it  was  laid  down  that 
all  rabbits  and  pigeons  killed  were  the 
fair  perquisite  of  the  keeper,  and  even 
that  he  had  a  fair  claim  to  any  game 
killed  by  vermin  or  '  chance-killed  game ' 
unsuitable  for  his  employer's  table.  As 
in  the  same  chapter  it  is  stated  that  the 
keeper  "  puts  his  best  work  into  his  garden, 
which  is  often  the  model  plot  of  a  rural 
community,"  and  also  that  he  "  may  keep 
fowls  at  his  employers  expense,  make 
money  by  dog-breeding  and  exhibiting, 
earn  vermin  and  rabbit  money  (whatever 
that  is)  as  extra  pay,  and  receive  from  his 
employer — if  a  generous  master — a  brace 
of  pheasants  and  a  hare  to  take  home  with 
him  after  every  shooting  party,"  it  is  fairly 
clear  that  this  is  not  our  standard  of  a 
gamekeeper ;  but  it  does  seem  a  pity  to 
advance  such  dangerous  theories  in  an 
otherwise  excellent  and  deservedly  widely 

^  A  Gamekeeper's  Note-Book,  by  Owen  Jones. 


94  PARTRIDGES 

read  book.  A  gamekeeper  has  every 
opportunity  for  cheating  his  employer  if 
he  be  so  disposed,  and  it  is  most  important 
that  the  bargain  between  them  should 
be  clearly  defined,  leaving  no  shadowy 
boundary  between  right  and  wrong 
through  which  a  weak  man  may  drift 
from  a  casual  regard  of  what  is  other 
people's  property  to  a  career  of  downright 
dishonesty. 

However  favourably  we  may  wish  to 
picture  this  estate,  we  cannot,  if  it  is  to 
bear  any  relation  to  actual  fact,  suppose 
that  it  numbers  no  rats  among  its  in- 
habitants. In  March,  then,  the  rats  are 
poisoned  in  their  holes ;  not  casually  but 
most  systematically,  the  joint  efforts  of 
the  whole  available  staff  being  con- 
centrated on  each  part  of  the  ground  in 
turn.  Any  rats  fortunate  enough  to 
escape  these  attentions  have  still  the  beat- 
keeper  to  reckon  with,  and  thus  it  is  often 
the  case  that  when  the  nesting  season 
begins,  there  is  scarcely  a  rat  on  the 
whole  ground.      This  desirable  state  of 


PRESERVATION  95 

affairs  would,  of  course,  be  impossible  of 
attainment  were  our  neighbours  on  every 
side  not  equally  zealous  in  extirpation. 

Hedgehogs  are  dealt  with  about  this 
time  too,  an  old  dog  having  been  trained 
to  hunt  them  after  dark  on  grass-lands,  at 
which  time  they  are  easiest  to  find,  though 
secure  from  human  foes  unless  some  one 
with  a  nose  is  added  to  the  party.  Thus, 
after  steady  trapping  throughout  the  year 
— perhaps  a  trap  to  every  four  or  five 
acres  is  always  in  use — culminating  in  a 
regular  crusade  in  the  early  spring,  the 
end  of  April  finds  the  enemies  of  game  a 
negligible  quantity  and  there  is  one  danger 
the  less  to  be  reckoned  with. 

Vigilance  must,  however,  not  be  wholly 
relaxed ;  with  May  come  wandering 
families,  of  stoats,  anxious  to  settle  down 
where  food  is  plentiful,  and  there  are 
always  other  casual  nomads  of  the  vermin 
world  to  be  guarded  against. 

The  system  on  which  we  work  in  the 
nesting  season  is  to  assist  the  methods  of 
nature  in  every  way  we  can,  but  never  to 


96  PARTRIDGES 

supplant  them  by  methods  of  our  own, 
recognizing  that  the  partridge  is  a  better 
parent  than  any  substitute  we  can  hope 
to  provide,  and  that  birds  reared  under 
natural  conditions  in  a  wild  state  make 
the  best  and  healthiest  stock. 

At  the  end  of  April  each  keeper  has 
served  out  to  him  a  large  scale  map  of  his 
beat,  and  a  tabulated  notebook  in  which 
to  keep  his  records.  From  the  first  week 
in  May  till  the  old  birds  have  begun  to 
sit — after  which  time  undue  disturbance 
of  the  ground  must  be  avoided — the 
keepers  are  out  from  dawn  till  close  on 
mid-day  systematically  hunting  for  the 
nests.  Each  nest  as  found  is  marked  on 
the  map  with  a  number  in  a  circle,  and 
under  the  corresponding  figure  in  the  note- 
book is  entered  the  day  on  which  the  bird 
began  to  sit,  the  number  of  eggs  hatched 
and  addled,  what  eggs  were  changed  or 
added  to  the  nest,  and  the  cause  of  any 
disaster,  should  it  occur.  About  two- 
thirds  to  three-fourths  of  the  total  nests 
— the  proportion  varying  according  to  the 


PRESERVATION  97 

season  and  growth  of  herbage — are  thus 
found  and  accounted  for. 

The  summarized  results  are  vahiable 
as  a  work  of  reference  in  after  years,  for 
they  show  most  clearly  what  the  work  in 
the  past  has  been  worth,  and  how  far 
measures  taken  to  rid  the  partridges  of 
their  enemies,  improvise  or  construct 
nesting-ground,  or  improve  the  stock  by 
change  of  blood  have  proved  successful.^ 

The  definite  aim  of  keeping  his  records 
up  to  date  also  helps  to  keep  a  man  up  to 
his  work.  The  maps  and  records  of  each 
beat-keeper  are  occasionally  checked  by 
the  head-keeper  and  his  master — for  we 
naturally  like  to  fancy  ourselves  as  owner 
of  this  place,  taking  a  real  interest  in  the 
keepers  and  their  work  all  the  year  round  ; 
the  beat-keeper  then  produces  his  map, 
half-a-dozen  nests  are  selected  there- 
from at  random,  and  the  accuracy  of  his 
notes  tested  first  -  hand.  This  guards 
against   the   possible    danger   of    a   man 

^  The  benefits  of  a  successful  change  of  blood  should  be 
realized  in  an  increase  in  the  average  number  of  eggs  laid. 

7 


98  PARTRIDGES 

getting  slack  about  his  work,  and  draw- 
ing on  his  imagination  to  supply  any 
deficiency  in  his  returns. 

Each  nest  is  visited  as  far  as  possible 
once  a  day,  the  keeper  not  making  a  pro- 
longed business  of  inspecting  the  nest, 
but  just  walking  close  enough,  without 
stopping,  to  ascertain  that  all  is  well. 
He  carries  with  him  on  his  rounds  a 
couple  of  traps  for  immediate  use  if  any 
trace  of  vermin  be  discovered,  a  strong 
knife  to  cut  branches  which  he  may  want 
to  stick  into  the  ground  round  any 
exposed  nest  he  may  find,  artificial  eggs 
to  replace  any  he  may  see  fit  to  lift,  and 
a  specially  contrived  belt  in  which  eggs 
may  be  carried  and  kept  warm.  All  the 
ground  is  searched  twice,  for  the  old  birds 
nest  a  week  or  so  earlier  than  the  young 
ones.  If  a  pair  of  old  birds  usurp  an  un- 
due extent  of  territory  for  their  nesting 
operations,  they  sometimes  have  to  be 
cleared  out.  Each  man  knows  that  as 
soon  as  the  partridge  uncovers  her  eggs 
he  must  on  no  account  go  near  the  nest 


PRESERVATION  99 

for  a  day  or  two,  as  any  disturbance  at 
this  critical  time  may  make  her  desert. 

All  nests  in  safe  places  are  left  alone, 
except  that  some  of  the  eggs  are  changed 
with  other  beats,  with  perhaps  a  few  spare 
eggs  added  if  the  full  clutch  is  much 
under  twenty.  Changing  of  eggs  is 
systematically  carried  out  all  over  the 
ground,  both  with  other  estates  and  also 
by  free  interchange  between  beats.  Nests 
on  roadsides  and  exposed  places  are 
treated  according  to  the  degree  of  danger 
to  which  they  seem  exposed ;  if  there 
appears  to  be  a  reasonable  chance  of  their 
survival,  they  are  dealt  with  on  the 
Euston  system,  as  described  later  in  this 
chapter  when  treating  of  foxes ;  but  if 
their  prospects  of  success  are  slight,  the 
eggs  are  taken  to  the  incubator  as  soon  as 
the  clutch  is  nearly  completed,  and  the 
nest  destroyed  in  the  hopes  that  the  bird 
may  have  a  second  nest  of  seven  or  eight 
eggs  in  a  more  favourable  situation. 

When  any   misfortune  befalls  a  nest, 
should  the  sitting  bird  forsake  or  be  killed, 


100  PARTRIDGES 

the  eggs  are  generally  found  before  they 
are  spoilt,  and  taken  to  the  incubator. 
All  these  eggs  are  either  added  to  eon- 
temporary  nests,  or  else  allowed  to  hatch 
in  the  incubator,  and  turned  down  with 
newly  hatched  coveys  as  soon  as  dry. 
Late  in  the  season,  the  family  arrange- 
ments of  dilatory  partridges  are  hurried 
on  by  the  use  of  the  incubator  and  the 
dummies,  and  the  fortnight  thus  saved 
must  often  make  the  whole  difference  to 
the  chances  of  the  covey. 

When  the  hay  is  cut,  the  beat-keeper 
is  always  there,  working  his  dog  in  front 
of  the  mowing  machine,  and  doing  all  he 
can  to  save  his  birds.  Without  offering 
rewards  for  partridge  nests — a  practice  apt 
to  do  more  harm  than  good  by  encourag- 
ing indiscriminate  nest -hunting — great 
stress  is  laid  on  keeping  the  farmers  and 
farm-hands  not  only  neutral,  but  actively 
interested  in  the  shooting.  Some  of  the 
farm-hands  are  right  good  fellows,  and 
are  as  useful  as  extra  keepers  in  the 
summer.     The  farmers  and  the  keepers 


PRESERVATION  101 

live  on  the  best  of  terms  ;  the  keepers  can 
do  them  many  a  good  turn  in  the  year, 
and  in  return  the  farmers  lend  us  their 
aid  when  most  required,  studying  the 
interests  of  the  game  at  all  times,  and 
most  materially  forwarding  our  efforts  in 
a  hundred  different  ways,  by  looking  after 
their  dogs,  cutting  their  hay  and  corn 
with  regard  to  the  birds  in  it,  and  keeping 
their  men  from  disturbing  the  fences — all 
helping  to  produce  that  extra  fifty  brace 
in  October,  which  they  are  as  proud  as 
any  one  to  see  killed  off  their  land. 

After  the  corn  is  cut,  the  stubbles  and 
grass  fields  are  *  bushed '  with  thorns, 
more  as  a  precautionary  measure  than  for 
actual  prevention,  for  where  the  ground 
is  so  well  watched  and  the  labourers  so 
friendly,  poaching  is  at  a  discount. 

Before  September  comes  each  keeper 
has  to  furnish  some  estimate  of  the 
number  of  birds  on  his  ground,  from 
which  data  the  amount  of  shooting  can 
be  anticipated.  In  a  good  year  ten  days' 
driving    can    fairly  be    reckoned   on    in 


102  PARTRIDGES 

October,  and  another  five  days  later  in 
the  season.  Six  thousand  birds  off  the 
8000  acres  is  not  an  undue  estimate  on 
first-class  ground,  and  a  pair  of  birds  to 
every  4  or  5  acres  is  about  the  stock  that 
the  ground  will  comfortably  carry,  seeing 
that  the  partridges  have  it  all  their  own 
way,  the  merest  sprinkling  of  pheasants 
being  allowed  to  nest  outside  the  home 
covers. 

But  all  estates  are  not  equally  blessed, 
and  we  must  now  consider  some  of  the 
problems  which  present  themselves  very 
forcibly  in  the  ordinary  course  of  pre- 
servation. Perhaps  the  commonest  of 
these  is  provided  by  the  rival  sport  of 
hunting.  The  presence  of  foxes  on  an 
estate  vastly  complicates  the  question  of 
partridge  preservation.  The  fox,  deadliest 
foe  to  game,  must  not  only  be  tolerated 
but  encouraged,  and  though  it  has  been 
proved  beyond  all  doubt  that  both  foxes 
and  partridges  can  exist  on  the  same 
ground  in  sufficient  numbers  for  the 
purpose  of  sport,  still  the  life  of  a  keeper 


PRESERVATION  103 

in  a  strictly  preserved  hunting  country  is 
not  altogether  a  happy  one  ;  his  cares  and 
anxieties  are  very  sensibly  increased,  and 
the  uncertainty  of  reaping  any  fruit  of  his 
labours,  one  of  the  most  trying  features 
of  a  keeper's  work  at  any  time,  is  now 
doubled  by  the  ever-present  snake  which 
he  must  cherish  in  his  bosom. 

Of  course  it  may  be  said  that  the 
keeper's  duty  is  to  carry  out  his  master's 
wishes,  and  that  he  should  be  as  pleased 
when  foxes  are  found  in  plenty  as  he  was 
the  year  when  mange  had  decimated  their 
numbers,  and  two  hundred  brace  figured 
in  the  game-book  as  the  product  of  a 
single  day  for  the  first,  and  probably  the 
last,  time.  Such  a  nice  sense  of  propor- 
tion is,  however,  denied  to  human  nature, 
and  for  the  most  part  you  will  find  the 
keeper  either  very  much  in  earnest  about 
his  partridges,  in  which  case  the  foxes 
remain  a  permanent  thorn  in  the  flesh,  or 
else  keen  about  hunting,  the  partridges 
then  taking  a  second  place  in  his  estima- 
tion and  suffering  accordingly. 


104  PARTRIDGES 

It  is  by  no  means  every  fox  who  takes 
to  hunting  for  partridge  nests,  but  once 
indulged  in,  the  habit  soon  becomes  con- 
firmed and  ineradicable  in  the  individual. 
The  worst  offenders  are  mangy  foxes, 
who  alone  hunt  by  day  as  well  as  night, 
and  old  vixens  seeking  food  for  their  cubs. 
It  is  always  advisable  to  keep  a  plentiful 
supply  of  rabbits  for  the  foxes,  unless  the 
interests  of  forestry  have  to  be  considered. 
Rabbits  are  the  staple  food  of  the  fox, 
and  where  they  are  to  be  had  for  the 
catching,  the  foxes  may  refrain  from 
trying  any  novelties  in  the  way  of  food. 

Many  and  various  are  the  devices 
employed  to  save  the  nests.  The  simplest 
way  is  to  surround  the  nest  with  a  smell 
which  foxes  dislike,  such  as  handfuls  of 
grass  dipped  hi  *  animal  oil,'  rags  soaked 
in  a  mixture  of  oil  of  burnt  hartshorn 
and  creosote  or  gas  tar,  or  one  of  many 
patent  *  stinks '  now  sold  for  the  purpose. 
These  may  serve  their  turn  well  enough 
for  a  time,  but  the  fox  is  full  of  guile, 
learns  to  associate  certain  evil  smells  with 


PRESERVATION  105 

a  dinner  of  two  courses,  and  the  keeper  is 
hoist  with  his  own  petard.  A  further 
refinement  is  to  lay  a  trail  of  the  par- 
ticular 'stink'  used  along  the  fence, 
passing  wide  of  the  nest  by  describing  a 
semicircle  round  it;  the  fox  may  then 
follow  the  trail  and  miss  the  nest. 

Wire  of  a  mesh  large  enough  to  allow 
free  passage  to  the  bird  but  none  to  the 
fox  is  sometimes  put  up  a  yard  or  so  from 
the  nest  on  either  side  of  the  fence,  and 
well  fastened  down  into  the  hedge  bottom. 
This  may  at  times  effect  its  immediate 
purpose,  but  is  very  liable  to  disturb  the 
sitting  bird,  and  further  advertises  the 
exact  position  of  the  nest  to  all  and 
sundry,  which  is  obviously  undesirable. 

Mr.  Allington  quotes^  a  keeper  who 
im{)roved  on  this  device  by  placing  a 
white  flag  on  each  side  of  the  fence 
opposite  to  and  about  a  yard  from  the 
nest,  or  farther  off  at  first  if  the  sitting 
bird  showed  any  signs  of  uneasiness,  and 
gradually  brought  nearer  as  she  got  used 

^  In  Partridge  Driving,  edition  of  1910. 


106  PARTRIDGES 

to  it.  This  plan  was  said  to  have  been  a 
complete  success  for  four  years,  the  fox 
not  venturing  to  pass  between  the  flag 
and  the  fence,  and  thus  missing  the  nest. 
Still,  with  partridge  eggs  at  £5  a  hundred, 
many  keepers  would  deem  it  an  over- 
risky  expedient  to  flag  their  nests  like  so 
many  putting  greens  on  a  golf  course,  and 
as  easily  located. 

Old  and  unset  iron  traps  scattered 
round  the  nest  are  a  common  device,  or  an 
old  chain  laid  all  round  the  nest,  which 
latter  is  said  to  form  a  magic  circle 
through  which  no  fox  will  ever  pass: 
both  these  should  be  well  handled  at 
frequent  intervals.  Stable  lanterns  sus- 
pended a  foot  or  so  above  the  ground, 
with  cheap  roasting-jacks  attached  to 
them,  have  also  been  recommended  as 
efficient  protection  during  the  night. 

All  these  devices  can  be  profitably 
employed  on  occasion,  but  it  is  very 
doubtful  if  any  one  of  them  could  per- 
manently be  trusted  to  protect  nests. 
The  keeper  who  would   outwit  his  wily 


PRESERVATION  107 

adversaries  must  not  only  ring  the  changes 
on  every  known  device,  but  also  for  ever 
be  devising  new  methods  of  baffling  the 
enemy. 

All  nesting  ground  that  admits  of  it 
should  be  enclosed  by  six  feet  of  well  and 
strongly  set  wire-netting,  supported  by  a 
strong  steel  wire  run  through  it  at  half 
its  height.  One  authority^  gives  an  in- 
genious and  economical  method  of  making 
this  absolutely  fox-proof.  A  single  strand 
of  stout  wire  is  stretched  from  standard 
to  standard  above  the  wire- netting  (the 
standards,  if  of  wood,  must  be  provided 
with  an  iron  eyelet  stanchion  for  the  pur- 
pose). Suspended  on  this  wire  by  means  of 
bent  wire  cross-pieces  are  lengths  of  ridg- 
ing, an  inexpensive  material  of  galvanized 
sheet-iron.  The  ridging  has  free  play, 
working  on  the  single  wire,  and  any  fox 
trying  to  jump  on  to  the  top  of  the  netting 
fails  to  gain  foothold  and  falls  backwards. 

While  all  these  palliative  measures  are 
effective  at  times,  it  seems  that  in  the 

1  Mr.  W.  Carnegie,  in  Practical  Game  Preserving. 


108  PARTRIDGES 

adoption  of  the  so-called  *Euston'  system 
is  to  be  found  the  only  reliable  remedy 
for  the  trouble  caused  by  foxes.  Marlow, 
head-keeper  to  Lord  Ashburton  at  the 
Grange,  rendered  a  great  service  to  pre- 
servers of  game  in  hunting  countries 
when  he  discovered  the  fact  that  once  a 
partridge  hen  has  been  sitting  on  her  eggs 
for  twenty-four  hours,  she  may  be  handled 
and  lifted  or  gently  put  off  her  nest  with- 
out any  fear  of  her  forsaking  altogether. 
This  made  it  possible  for  the  keepers  to 
abstract,  replace,  or  substitute  eggs  at 
will  during  practically  the  whole  period 
of  incubation,  and,  having  got  so  far, 
systematic  use  of  this  idea  soon  followed 
as  a  matter  of  course. 

Mr.  Pearson  Gregory  was  the  first  to 
practise  the  system,  and  has  shown  on  his 
estate  of  Harlaxton  in  Lincolnshire,  lying 
in  the  very  heart  of  the  Belvoir  country, 
how  by  its  means  the  damage  caused  by 
foxes  may  be  minimized.  The  system 
should  really  be  known  as  the  *  Harlax- 
ton,' but   as   Mr.  Pearson   Gregory   was 


PRESERVATION  109 

tenant  of  the  Duke  of  Grafton's  shootings 
at  Euston,  and  as  the  keepers  there  added 
chipped  eggs  to  their  wild  pheasants' 
nests  at  the  time  of  hatching,  there  arose 
some  little  confusion  on  the  subject,  and 
Mr.  Gregory's  invention  became  generally 
known  as  the  *  Euston'  system. 

Its  objects  are  twofold.  In  the  first 
case,  it  seeks  to  protect  the  eggs  by  keep- 
ing them  from  all  danger  from  the  first 
week  of  laying  to  the  hour  of  hatching  ; 
secondly,  it  aims  at  lessening  the  danger 
to  the  sitting  bird  and  her  nest  by  shorten- 
ing the  period  of  incubation  from  three 
weeks  to  one. 

In  brief,  its  methods  are  these :  all 
nests  possible  are  found  and  each  bird  is 
allowed  to  lay  four  eggs  without  interfer- 
ence ;  these,  and  all  subsequent  eggs  as 
she  lays  them,  are  then  taken  by  the 
keepers  and  either  put  into  the  incubator 
or  set  under  hens,  being  at  the  same  time 
replaced  in  the  nest  by  artificial  eggs.^ 

^  The  original  artificial  eggs  were  found  very  unsatis- 
factory, and  birds  often  refused  to  have  anything  to  do 


110  PARTRIDGES 

The  partridge  is  allowed  to  sit  for  one 
week  on  the  dummies,  after  which  time 
she  is  willing  to  mother  any  chicks  that 
may  hatch.  A  batch  of  chipped  eggs  are 
then  taken  from  the  coops  or  the  in- 
cubator, carried  to  the  nest  in  a  basket  of 
warm  bran,  and  substituted  for  the 
dummies.  In  a  few  hours  the  mother 
will  have  hatched  and  taken  off  the  brood, 
thus  evading  all  the  dangers  of  the  last 
two  days  of  incubation,  which,  as  is  well 
known,  is  just  the  time  that  foxes  do 
most  mischief.  For  then  the  scent,  which 
the  sitting  bird  has  been  able  to  suppress 
since  incubation  commenced,  returns  to 
the  nest  (due  perhaps  to  the  chicks  in  the 
eggs),  rendering  it  an  easy  prey  to  any 
passing  *  varmint.' 

Besides  the  main  object  of  this  system, 
its  adoption  is  attended  by  several  minor 
advantages.     A  constant  change  of  blood 

with  them  ;  but  now  many  excellent  imitations  of  the 
natural  egg  are  on  the  market.  Mr.  Maiden,  Home, 
Horley,  supplies  an  egg  which,  were  it  not  for  the  small 
hole  purposely  left  open  at  one  end,  would  be  almost  in- 
distinguishable from  the  genuine  article. 


PRESERVATION  111 

all  over  the  ground  is  assured;  the  wastage, 
caused  by  birds  sitting  on  unfertile  eggs, 
ceases;  and  the  keeper  can  exactly  regulate 
the  hatching  time  of  any  nest  so  that  tlie 
chicks  start  life  under  the  most  propitious 
circumstances.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  the  keeper  would  find  himself  left 
with  more  eggs  on  hand  than  he  could 
dispose  of,  especially  should  accidents 
befall  many  of  the  hens  who  are  sitting 
on  dummies.  But  as  it  has  been  found 
quite  safe  to  put  as  many  as  thirty  eggs  in 
a  nest,  questions  of  supply  and  demand 
are  generally  easy  to  regulate. 

The  working  of  this  system  is  inex- 
pensive, though  doubtless  it  entails  hard 
work  on  the  part  of  the  keepers,  which 
might  lead  some  to  oppose  its  introduc- 
tion, or  demand  an  increased  staff  to  cope 
with  the  work.  To  any  urging  such 
objections,  let  it  be  pointed  out  that  in 
Lincolnshire  one  man  has  worked  a  beat 
of  1500  acres  on  the  Euston  system,  with 
a  hatch  of  1200  birds  in  a  season. 

On    dry   soils,    where    no    springs   or 


112  PARTRIDGES 

streams  afford  natural  drinking-places  for 
the  partridges,  it  is  advisable  to  give  the 
birds  drinking-fountains  in  dry  and  hot 
summers.    It  is  true  that  they  can  manage 
well  enough  without  them,  but  numerous 
self-feeding  fountains  placed  in  the  fields 
and  kept  clean  and  sweet  will  well  repay 
any   extra   trouble   they   may  entail,   by 
helping  to  keep  the  stock  healthy.     Mr. 
F.    E.    Fryer,    whose   management  of  a 
small  estate  at  Newmarket  entitles  him 
to  speak  with  the  voice  of  authority — 
does  not  his  land  produce  l^  birds  to  the 
acre  ? — considers   this  a  sure  precaution 
against  gapes,  which  scourge   may  well, 
as  he  suggests,  come  from  birds  drinking 
in  the  nearest  dirty  puddle  after  a  shower, 
and    thus    absorbing    the    embryo    gape- 
worm. 

Remises,  or  sanctuaries  provided  for 
shelter,  food,  and  nesting,  are  scarcely 
germane  to  the  subject  of  preservation  in 
general,  for  they  are  a  luxury  which  only 
the  very  few,  to  whom  money  is  no 
object,  can  well  afford.     A  description  of 


PRESERVATION  118 

one  will  be  found  among  the  notes  from 
Welbeck  Abbey  in  Chapter  V. 

With  ordinary  care  and  attention  the 
hand-rearing  of  partridge^  presents  no 
peculiar  difficulty,  and  demands  only  the 
ordinary  appliances  of  pheasant-rearing. 
On  principle,  absolute  certainty  as  to  the 
source  of  supply  in  buying  eggs  should 
be  insisted  on  ;  in  practice,  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  this  precaution  is  sometimes 
neglected,  else  were  egg-stealing  not  so 
profitable  a  pursuit.^ 

The  treatment  up  to  hatching  time 
differs  in  no  respect  from  pheasant-rear- 
ing, save  only  that  it  is  advisable  to  set 
the  eggs  under  a  smaller  type  of  hen  than 
usual.  Bantams  and  silkies,  when  they 
can    be    induced    to    sit,    which    is    not 

^  To  ensure  an  honest  source  in  buying  eggs,  every  one 
should  be  most  particular  in  this  country  to  deal  only  with 
Associates  of  the  Field  Sports  and  Game  Guild,  of  which 
the  Duke  of  Leeds  is  president,  the  Duke  of  Abercorn 
vice-president,  and  which  numbers  all  respectable  dealers 
in  eggs  among  its  associates.  When  buying  eggs  direct 
from  Austria-Hungary  it  is  well  to  communicate  with  the 
society  of  the  same  name  in  Vienna.  It  is  said  that  close 
on  100,000  stolen  partridge  eggs  annually  find  their  way 
into  this  country. 

8 


114  PARTRIDGES 

always,  make  excellent  foster-mothers. 
From  15  to  20  eggs  may  be  given  to 
each  hen. 

There  is  always  considerable  risk  of 
the  hen  trampling  on  newly  hatched  birds 
when  they  are  still  weak  and  wet.  This 
may  be  obviated  by  having  an  incubator 
set  up  under  cover  close  by,  and,  when 
the  eggs  begin  to  chip,  taking  all  but  two 
from  the  hen  and  putting  them  into  the 
incubator.  The  hen  duly  hatches  her 
two  and  is  therefore  ready  to  undertake 
the  charge  of  a  family ;  the  remainder 
hatch  in  the  incubator,  are  kept  for  a 
short  time  in  the  drying  box,  and  are 
given  back  to  the  hen  before  they  have 
reached  the  active  and  independent  stage, 
which  comes  almost  as  soon  as  they  are 
dry.  They  then  go  straight  under  the 
hen,  and  she  takes  to  them,  which  she 
will  not  always  do  if  they  have  been  left 
too  long  in  the  drying  box  and  run  off  in 
search  of  food.  This  device  was  originated 
and  very  successfully  practised  by  Mr.  F. 
Hawkins,  head-keeper  at  Eynsham  Hall. 


PRESERVATION  115 

The  natural  food  of  the  chick  is  the 
egg  of  the  yellow  meadow  ant,  but  this 
should  not  be  given  from  the  start  unless 
a  continued  supply  be  assured,  for  the 
young  birds  quickly  acquire  a  taste  for 
ant's  eggs,  and  are  then  apt  to  refuse 
any  other  kind  of  food.  Where  ant's 
eggs  in  sufficient  quantity  are  not  avail- 
able, the  partridge  meal  supplied  by 
any  reliable  manufacturer  of  game  foods, 
mixed  with  custard  and  green  food,  will  be 
found  to  answer  the  purpose  fairly  well. 

The  young  chicks  require  to  be  fed 
five  times  a  day  for  the  first  week  or  so, 
four  times  a  day  for  the  next  fortnight, 
and  three  times  a  day  thereafter.  When 
the  young  partridges  are  half  grown  and 
about  six  weeks  old,  the  coops  should  be 
moved  to  the  edge  of  some  oat-field,  and 
placed  in  dry  spots  far  enough  from  each 
other  to  prevent  the  various  coveys 
collecting  in  a  pack.  After  a  few  days 
of  liberty  the  young  birds  will  leave  their 
foster-mother  altogether,  and  then  require 
little  further  attention. 


116  PARTRIDGES 

In  my  own  opinion,  rearing  partridges 
by  hand  where  soil  and  local  conditions 
are  favourable  to  the  wild  birds  must 
always — even  on  a  small  scale  after  a 
succession  of  bad  seasons — be  a  short- 
sighted policy,  eventually  defeating  its 
own  ends.  For  while  it  certainly  pro- 
duces an  increased  number  of  birds  for 
the  one  year,  at  the  same  time  a  number 
of  birds,  unlikely  to  make  good  parents 
in  the  future  and  unduly  susceptible  to 
disease,  are  turned  out  to  lower  the 
standard  of  the  whole  stock. 

It  would  seem  that  the  same  rule 
applies  to  partridges  as  to  pheasants — rear 
once  and  you  are  committed  to  rear 
always.  If  the  truth  of  this  be  allowed, 
the  profitable  adoption  of  hand-rearing 
for  partridges  is  limited  to  estates  where 
a  cold  clay  soil,  a  strict  preservation  of 
foxes,  or  other  untoward  local  circum- 
stances make  it  hopeless  to  look  for  any 
number  of  partridges  under  natural  con- 
ditions. Here  if  1000  eggs  be  bought 
every  year,  and  CO  to  70  per  cent  hatched 


PRESERVATION  117 

and  reared,  driving  days  of  150  brace 
may  be  had,  where,  without  such  adven- 
titious aid,  20  brace  would  be  about  the 
limit. 

Hand-reared  birds  are  almost  always 
found  to  be  deficient  in  the  homing 
instinct,  so  strongly  developed  in  the 
wild  partridges.  As  they  also  have  a 
marked  tendency  to  gather  in  packs  early 
in  the  season,  especially  if  the  coveys 
have  been  turned  out  too  close  together, 
their  utility  on  a  small  shooting  is  always 
somewhat  problematical,  and  they  appear 
to  best  advantage  when  turned  out  in 
the  centre  of  a  large  estate,  whence  they 
will  have  ample  scope  to  wander  without 
crossing  the  boundary. 

So  far  as  the  actual  shooting  is  con- 
cerned, hand -reared  partridges  differ  in 
no  particular  from  wild  birds,  flying  just 
as  well  and  giving  equally  good  sport ; 
yet  at  the  best  there  clings  about  them 
some  taint  of  artificiality  to  any  one  who 
cares  at  all  for  our  wild  game  birds  and 
their   ways,  and   is   not   solely   occupied 


118  PARTRIDGES 

with  the  desire  to  let  off  his  gun  as  often 
as  possible. 

The  French  system  is  another,  and  for 
many  reasons  preferable,  method  of  arti- 
ficially increasing  a  stock,  but  it  is  only 
applicable  in  natural  partridge  country, 
and  therefore  could  not  always  be  sub- 
stituted for  hand-rearing.  This  system 
was  devised  by  the  Due  de  Montebello, 
and  was  borrowed  by  us  from  the 
Continent,  where  it  has  been  employed 
with  marked  success.  Briefly,  the  pro- 
cedure is  as  follows  : — 

A  large  enclosure  is  first  planned  out ;  if  50 
brace  of  birds  were  to  be  penned,  a  square  of  75 
yards  would  be  enclosed.  This  pen  must  have 
plenty  of  rough  cover,  such  as  partridges  affect 
in  a  wild  state,  both  inside  and  out.  The  site 
should  be  dry,  sheltered,  and  little  liable  to 
disturbance,  quiet  being  essential  to  the  welfare 
of  the  birds.  The  pen  is  constructed  of  wire- 
netting  carried  on  stout  standards  6  feet  or  more 
in  height,  roofed  with  twine-net  of  a  small  mesh, 
and  has  all  its  corners  rounded  off.  The  inmates, 
presumably  Hungarians,  are  turned  into  this 
enclosure,  cock  and  hen  in  equal  numbers,  about 
the  end  of  October,  with  their  wings  brailed.  By 
January   they   should   be  well   acclimatized,  and 


PRESERVATION  119 

more  or  less  accustomed  to  the  presence  of  the 
keeper  who  feeds  them.  During  the  pairing  and 
nesting  time  there  are  two  several  methods  of 
procedure.  In  the  first  the  large  enclosure  has 
two  or  more  small  covered-in  pens,  each  some 
5  yards  square,  permanently  attached  to  it,  the 
doors  shutting  off  the  smaller  from  the  larger 
pen  being  worked  with  a  line  by  the  man  in 
charge  from  a  hut  at  the  main  entrance.  As 
the  birds  mate,  each  pair  draws  away  from  the 
rest  and  seeks  the  seclusion  of  one  of  the  smaller 
pens,  the  door  of  which  is  then  closed.  The  pairs 
are  then  taken  to  the  rearing  pens,  a  covered-in 
circle  of  some  20  feet  in  diameter  being  given  to 
each  pair,  where  they  proceed  with  their  family 
arrangements  under  surveillance  of  the  keeper. 
When  six  days  or  a  week  old  the  coveys  are 
turned  out  on  the  ground  they  are  intended  to 
occupy.  Moving  the  coveys  is  always  rather  a 
troublesome  business,  and  it  simplifies  matters 
considerably  if  each  rearing  pen  can  be  constructed 
where  the  home  of  the  covey  is  to  be.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  naturally  far  easier  for  the  keeper 
to  look  after  the  birds  properly  when  all  the 
rearing  pens  are  in  one  field ;  when  this  is  the 
case  the  pens  should  be  at  least  20  yards  apart. 

In  the  Second  method,  the  rearing  pens  are 
attached  to  the  main  enclosure,  shut  in  the  same 
manner  when  occupied  by  a  pair,  but  used  by  the 
birds  to  nest  in  and  only  moved  after  the  young 
are  hatched.     The  old  birds  are  then  caught  and 


120  PARTRIDGES 

put  in  a  small  flat  basket,  the  young  in  a  carrying 
box,  and  all  replaced  in  their  pen  on  the  ground 
which  is  to  be  their  home ;  here  they  are  allowed 
their  liberty  after  a  day  or  two,  as  soon  as  they 
seem  to  have  settled  down.  Under  this  method 
a  number  of  birds  usually  nest  in  the  main 
enclosure,  whence  they  are  allowed  to  run  with 
their  young  as  soon  as  hatched.  In  either  case, 
birds  which  fail  to  pair  are  turned  out  early  in 
the  season  in  the  hope  that  they  may  find  mates 
more  to  their  liking  in  the  outside  world. 

In  this  semi-domesticated  condition  the  hens 
sometimes  considerably  exceed  the  natural  clutch 
of  eggs,  many  instances  of  one  hen  producing 
between  30  and  40  eggs  being  recorded  ;  many 
eggs  are  also  dropped  about  in  the  large  en- 
closure. All  eggs  should  be  utilized,  nests  being 
made  up  to  20  or  22,  and  superfluous  eggs 
used  in  making  up  wild  birds'  nests,  or  else  set 
under  hens.  About  18  to  20  chicks  are  as  much 
as  one  hen  partridge  can  manage  satisfactorily ; 
and  it  should  be  remembered  that  the  eggs  of 
birds  imported  from  Hungary  often  take  longer  to 
hatch  than  those  of  the  native  birds. 

On  the  whole  the  French  system  has 
much  to  recommend  it ;  the  conditions 
under  which  the  birds  are  reared  approxi- 
mate fairly  closely  to  those  of  nature,  and 
the   stock   thus   produced   can   be   fairly 


PRESERVATION  121 

trusted  to  be  healthy  and  prohfic  in  a  wild 
state  ;  the  safety  of  the  nests  is  ensured 
during  the  whole  period  of  incubation, 
and  the  young  birds  can  be  to  some  extent 
safeguarded  in  wet  and  windy  weather  by 
turning  them  down  in  dry  and  sheltered 
spots.  From  a  pen  holding  50  brace,  at 
least  500  young  birds  should  be,  under 
skilful  management,  annually  produced 
and  turned  down. 

On  the  other  side,  it  must  be  admitted 
that  there  have  been  many  complaints 
from  people  who  state  that  the  system 
has  been  given  a  fair  trial  with  them  and 
found  wanting,  or  at  least  uncertain  in  its 
results,  in  some  years  not  more  than  half 
of  the  birds  pairing  in  the  pens,  and  all 
the  rest  having  to  be  turned  out,  probably 
too  late  in  the  season  to  find  mates  and 
breed  in  a  wild  state. 

But  one  must  judge  by  results,  and  the 
uniform  success  achieved  by  many  who 
have  followed  this  system  for  a  number 
of  years  would  seem  to  point,  in  the  case 
of  failure,  to  the  fault  lying,  not  with  the 


122  PARTRIDGES 

system  itself,  but  rather  in  the  faulty 
application  thereof.  Neglect  of  such 
weighty  considerations  as  finding  a  suit- 
able site  for  the  pen,  providing  proper 
food  for  the  birds,  and,  most  important  of 
all,  careful  and  skilful  handling  at  pairing 
time,  would  be  quite  enough  in  themselves 
to  account  for  any  want  of  success  with- 
out condemning  the  whole  system. 

In  any  case  the  French  system  is  not 
one  to  adopt  on  a  small  scale,  unless 
experimentally,  with  a  view  to  extending 
operations  should  the  results  be  favourable. 
The  initial  expense  of  securing  and  enclos- 
ing the  ground  is  heavy,  and  the  birds 
require  constant  attention  and  supervision; 
and  if  only  100  young  birds  or  so  are 
to  be  produced  when  all  goes  well,  the 
results  will  hardly  repay  the  time  and 
money  expended.  It  is  a  system  best 
adapted  for  working  on  large  estates, 
where  each  of  five  or  six  beat-keepers  could 
have  twenty  rearing  pens  set  up  in  suit- 
able places  on  his  own  ground,  receiving 
the  paired  birds  to  tenant  them  from  the 


PRESERVATION  123 

large  central  enclosures,  in  which  from 
100  to  150  brace  of  birds  would  be  penned. 
On  such  a  scale  the  results  of  success 
would  form  a  very  tangible  quantity  in 
the  shooting  season.  The  whole  idea  of 
penning  partridges  for  laying  is  un- 
doubtedly capable  of  considerable  varia- 
tion at  the  hands  of  skilful  operators,  and 
it  seems  quite  possible  that  semi-domesti- 
cated partridges  might  even  be  induced  to 
abandon  their  monogamous  habits. 

The  introduction  of  Hungarian  part- 
ridges into  this  country  is  a  novel  feature 
of  game  preservation.  When  first  sug- 
gested some  fifteen  years  ago,  the  idea 
was  welcomed  as  the  panacea  for  all  ills 
on  partridge  ground,  but  of  recent  years 
Hungarians  have  proved  a  fruitful  source 
of  controversy.  Rightly  or  wrongly  they 
have  been  blamed  for  impairing  the 
stamina  of  our  native  stock  and  introduc- 
ing new  forms  of  disease.  *  Hungarians' 
is,  of  course,  a  very  loose  term,  and  includes 
grey  partridges  from  every  part  of 
Germany  and  the  Austrian  Empire.     It 


124  PARTRIDGES 

is  no  easy  matter  to  pronounce  finally 
whether  their  introduction  is  advisable 
or  not ;  only,  when  so  many  close  and 
accurate  observers  pronounce  against  them 
from  personal  experience,  a  feeling  of  mis- 
trust is  naturally  engendered.  That  their 
introduction  has  in  many  instances  been 
attended  with  evil  consequences  is  beyond 
doubt,  only  the  question  remains  as  to 
how  far  these  failures  are  attributable  to 
mismanagement  and  mistakes  on  the  part 
of  those  responsible  for  turning  them 
down. 

Hungarians  are  practically  indis- 
tinguishable from  our  own  partridges,  and 
may  be  bought  either  in  the  egg  or  as 
full-grown  birds.  While  eggs  involve 
less  initial  outlay,  they  are  probably  just 
as  expensive  in  the  long-run,  and  buying 
the  birds  direct  has  the  advantage  of 
being  the  more  certain  method  of  the 
two,  besides  ensuring  a  change  of  blood 
in  the  first  year. 

Particular  care  and  attention  are 
absolutely     essential     in     dealing     with 


PRESERVATION  125 

Hungarians ;  if  they  are  bought  and 
turned  down  in  a  haphazard  fashion, 
there  can  be  no  shadow  of  doubt  that 
they  will  be  more  likely  to  do  harm  than 
good.  Their  reputed  origin  should,  if 
possible,  be  verified,  and  some  similarity 
between  the  climate  of  their  old  and  new 
homes  insisted  on.  In  buying  either 
birds  or  eggs,  the  foreign  invoice  must 
be  checked,  else  it  is  quite  possible  to 
buy  *  Hungarian'  eggs  which  come  from 
no  more  distant  land  than  your  own 
hedgerows. 

The  old  and  vicious  system,  still  re- 
commended by  many  game  dealers,  of 
turning  birds  out  on  the  night  of  their 
arrival  should  be  utterly  discountenanced. 
When  the  birds  arrive  they  should  first 
be  carefully  examined  to  see  that  they 
are  all  in  a  healthy  condition,  and  that  a 
due  proportion  of  sexes  and  young  birds 
to  old  is  maintained.  They  should  then 
be  placed  in  pens,  which  have  been  con- 
structed in  suitable  spots  on  the  ground 
which  they  are  intended  to  occupy.     The 


126  PARTRIDGES 

pens  should  be  12  ft.  long  by  4  ft.  wide 
and  3  ft.  high,  covered  with  twine-netting 
of  about  ^  in.  mesh,  with  fir  branches  in 
the  centre  and  some  shelters  of  boards 
at  the  sides.  Each  of  these  pens  will 
hold  about  4  brace  comfortably,  and 
should  be  placed  on  good  dry  turf.  The 
birds  should  for  the  first  day  or  so  be 
given  water,  grit,  and  crushed  and  scalded 
grain,  and  then  whole  grain  and  plenty  of 
green  food.  They  should  be  procured  by 
the  end  of  December,  and  enlarged  at  the 
end  of  January  ;  they  will  then  be  less 
likely  to  stray  than  if  they  were  turned 
out  before  the  pairing  season  began. 
Owing  to  the  severer  changes  of  climate 
to  which  they  are  subject  in  their  own 
country,  Hungarian  partridges  are  more 
migratory  in  habit  than  our  native  birds, 
so  this  is  an  important  consideration. 

It  is  inadvisable  to  handicap  the  new- 
comers with  rings  on  their  legs  for 
purposes  of  identification ;  a  small  hole 
punched  through  the  web  of  the  wing 
serves  the  purpose  equally  well,  and   in 


PRESERVATION  127 

no  way  inconveniences  the  bird.  The 
ground  on  which  Hungarian  partridges 
are  to  be  turned  out  must  be  cleared  of 
old  birds  first,  or  the  foreigners  will  be 
driven  away  as  soon  as  they  are  set  at 
liberty.  When  the  birds  are  being  freed, 
the  pen  should  be  left  open  at  one  end 
and  food  scattered  close  by  for  a  day  or 
two.  On  no  account  should  any  but 
good  healthy  birds  be  released ;  every  one 
that  shows  any  signs  of  being  in  poor 
health  or  condition  must  be  inexorably 
destroyed. 

Hungarians  have  no  peculiar  qualities 
in  influencing  a  stock  of  partridges  ;  a 
change  of  blood  from  ten  miles  away  is 
as  efficacious  as  one  from  a  thousand. 
Their  sole  merit  as  compared  with  British 
partridges  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are 
readily  procurable  in  a  wild  state  from 
reliable  sources.  To  import  Hungarians 
in  times  of  plenty  is  rather  like  taking 
coals  to  Newcastle ;  it  is  only  after  a 
succession  of  bad  nesting  seasons  that 
their   use   seems   in    any   way   desirable. 


128  PARTRIDGES 

When  scarcely  a  young  partridge  has 
reached  maturity  for  two  or  three  years, 
and  the  ground  is  tenanted  by  nothing 
but  hardy  veterans  of  four  and  five  years' 
standing,  it  is  a  tempting  expedient  to 
clear  out  all  the  old  and  useless  stock  and 
start  afresh  with  a  new  lot. 

The  right  course  to  follow  in  managing 
a  partridge -shooting  seems  tlien  to  be 
this :  first,  make  sure  that  your  staff  is 
efficient,  that  tlie  wild  birds  are  properly 
cared  for,  their  enemies  reduced  to  a 
minimum  ;  that  good  and  sufficient  nest- 
ing ground  is  available  for  the  breeding 
stock,  and  that  the  health  of  the  race  is 
ensured  by  a  regular  change  of  blood. 
When  this  point  has  been  readied,  and 
not  till  then,  it  may  be  advisable  to  adopt 
one  of  the  systems  of  higher  preservation ; 
but  to  turn  out  Hungarians  on  ground 
covered  with  vermin  or  devoid  of  places 
for  nesting,  or  to  ask  a  keeper  who  has 
never  really  studied  the  habits  of  his  own 
partridges  to  undertake  the  delicate  work 
of  successfully  pairing  penned  birds  under 


A  'riME-iioNOtiJED  Custom.     Partridge  and  Pheasant  using  same  Nest. 


PRESERVATION  129 

the   French   system,  is  simply  waste   of 
money. 

In  the  present  state  of  agriculture 
more  land  passes  out  of  cultivation  every 
year,  and  farms  which  once  carried  a  fine 
head  of  game  soon  become  useless  for 
purposes  of  sport  when  laid  down  in  grass. 
The  fact  that  the  occasional  covey  met 
with  on  grazing  land  is  almost  always  a 
peculiarly  large  and  strong  one  would 
seem  to  show  that  partridges  can  do  well 
enough  on  grass  if  they  like,  but  no  in- 
ducement will  persuade  them  to  stay  in 
any  appreciable  numbers  where  the  land 
is  unbroken. 

The  only  way  to  keep  up  a  respectable 
stock  under  these  conditions  is  to  plough 
a  certain  proportion  of  the  land — about 
10  acres  to  every  200  acres  of  grass  is 
sufficient — and  grow  some  cereal  crop 
for  the  exclusive  benefit  of  the  game. 
Where  fields  run  large,  the  cost  of  fencing 
these  patches  is  a  serious  consideration, 
otherwise  the  whole  expense  of  ploughing, 
harrowing,  sowing,  and  paying  compensa- 


130  PARTRIDGES 

tion  for  the  land  should  come  to  consider- 
ably less  than  £l  an  acre,  and  the  result 
is  almost  sure  to  repay  the  outlay.  Wheat 
is  often  recommended  for  the  purpose, 
but  the  crop  that  entails  least  trouble  in 
cultivation  is  buckwheat.  This  cereal  is 
not  particular  as  to  soil,  and  will  grow 
almost  anywhere,  provided  the  ground  is 
not  waterlogged.  It  should  be  sown  any 
time  during  June,  about  one  bushel  of 
seed  to  the  acre.  The  ground  should  be 
lightly  ploughed,  thoroughly  harrowed, 
and  rolled  after  being  sown.  The  seed 
may  be  obtained  from  any  nurseryman, 
the  grey  or  silver  hulled  varieties  being 
the  best.  The  grain  matures  in  from  six 
weeks  to  two  months  according  to  season. 
It  is  not  a  bad  plan  to  sow  a  few  strips 
of  Hungarian  millet  in  the  same  field  ; 
this  makes  good  cover,  which  buckwheat 
does  not,  and  gives  birds  a  place  of  retreat 
when  disturbed.  Hungarian  millet  may 
be  sown  at  the  same  time  as  buckwheat, 
under  the  same  process  of  cultivation,  but 
using  only  half  a  bushel  of  seed  to  the 


PRESERVATION  131 

acre.  Buckwheat  may  be  grown  for  two 
or  three  years  in  succession  on  the  same 
ground  without  impoverishing  the  soil, 
and  is  an  effectual  agent  in  cleaning  dirty 
land. 


CHAPTER  V 

BY   MANY    HANDS 

A  series  of  notes  from  many  estates — Summarizing  present- 
day  methods  under  varying  conditions — With  results, 
opinions,  and  suggestions. 

As  it  is  only  some  thirty  or  forty  years 
since  the  idea  of  doing  something  towards 
improving  partridge  ground  was  first 
seriously  considered,  it  could  hardly  be 
expected  that  the  rules  of  modern  pre- 
servation should  be  capable  of  being 
concisely  and  finally  laid  down  in  a  few 
pages. 

The  new  system  probably  originated 
at  Elvedon,  where,  as  long  ago  as  1870, 
Lord  Ducie's  keepers  were  successfully 
rearing  large  numbers  of  partridges  by 
hand,  exchanging  pheasant's  eggs  for 
those  of  partridges  with  their  neighbours. 

132 


I 


BY  MANY  HANDS  133 

Except  on  this  one  estate  in  Oxfordshire, 
it  was  then  the  universal  custom  to  allow 
partridges  to  fend  entirely  for  themselves  ; 
the  more  prominent  vermin  were,  it  is 
true,  probably  destroyed,  but  beyond  that, 
no  interest  was  taken  in  the  movements 
of  the  birds  until  the  1st  of  September 
drew  near,  and  it  became  a  question 
what  sport  they  could  be  called  upon  to 
furnish. 

Partridge  -  driving,  demanding  more 
birds  on  the  ground  and  more  certainty 
of  their  being  there  when  wanted  than 
the  older  methods  which  it  supplanted, 
resulted  in  the  trial  of  every  conceivable 
means  of  assisting  nature.  These  methods 
of  driving  and  preservation — the  two  are 
almost  inseparably  connected — have  in 
some  countries  been  almost  reduced  to 
a  complete  system,  but  in  many  others, 
where  driving  is  still  more  or  less  a  novel 
introduction,  the  whole  system  has  not 
yet  emerged  from  a  rude  and  barbaric 
infancy.  At  the  best,  modern  methods 
are    still    largely   experimental    in    their 


134  PARTRIDGES 

nature,  and  rules  which  have  proved  suc- 
cessful in  one  part  of  the  country  are  by 
no  means  necessarily  adapted  for  universal 
application.  In  such  a  case  the  opinions 
of  many,  based  on  a  variety  of  experience, 
must  far  outweigh  the  humbler  judgment 
of  one  who  has  only  the  limits  of  his  own 
narrower  experience  from  which  to  draw 
his  conclusions. 

Any  writer  on  partridge  preservation 
cannot  fail  to  be  largely  influenced  by  his 
own  experiences  at  the  game  ;  he  is  apt  to 
argue  from  the  particular  to  the  general, 
and  formulate  for  the  guidance  of  others, 
working  under  vastly  different  conditions, 
a  system  which  he  has  found  successful 
in  his  own  little  corner  of  the  partridge 
world. 

The  following  series  of  notes  from 
close  on  twenty  different  estates,  ranging 
from  the  south  of  England  to  the  north 
of  Scotland,  will,  it  is  hoped,  form  a  sum- 
mary, more  or  less  complete,  of  the 
various  methods  of  to-day ;  at  least  it 
was  with  this  end  in  view  that  they  were 


BY  MANY  HANDS  135 

collected,  the  idea  being  that  any  one 
desiring  information  about  partridge  pre- 
servation should  first  study  the  notes  as 
a  whole  and  get  a  good  broad  impression 
of  the  business,  and  then  select  an  estate 
where  the  general  conditions  are  some- 
what similar  to  his  own,  and  note  how 
others  deal  with  the  same  problems  which 
he  himself  is  called  upon  to  face.  The 
notes  from  each  estate  are  answers  to  a 
uniform  series  of  questions,  and  are  in 
every  case  the  opinions  of  owners  or 
gamekeepers  actively  engaged  in  partridge 
preservation. 

The  points  on  which  information  was 
requested  were  as  follows: — Extent  of 
ground,  nature  of  soil,  proportion  of  cul- 
tivated land  to  grass,  rotation  of  crops. 
Nature  of  natural  nesting  ground,  and 
whether  any  artificially  provided.  The 
question  of  foxes.  The  relative  de- 
merits of  other  vermin.  The  desirability 
of  hares,  pheasants,  and  French  partridges 
on  partridge  ground.  The  system  fol- 
lowed in  the  nesting  season.    The  question 


136  PARTRIDGES 

of  hand -rearing  partridges,  or  using 
incubator  or  hens.  The  manner  in 
which  change  of  blood  is  obtained. 
Any  diseases  and  their  probable  causes. 
The  size  of  beat  given  to  one  man. 
•The  question  of  feeding  wild  partridges. 
The  latest  date  on  which  partridges 
should  be  shot,  and  the  desirable  size  of 
stock  to  leave.  The  question  of  replen- 
ishing stock  after  a  succession  of  bad 
seasons.  Results  past  and  present — stock 
generally  increasing  or  the  reverse ;  acres 
to  each  bird  killed  on  the  best  beat  and 
all  over  the  ground. 


GORDONSTOUN,  ELGIN 

(From  notes  by  Mr.  Robert  Bell,  head-keeper  to 
Sir  William  Gordon-Cumming,  Bart.) 

Extent  of  ground  about  7000  acres,  mostly  under  cul- 
tivation on  a  five  years'  course — corn,  turnips,  corn,  two 
years  grass.  Fortunately  for  partridges,  the  soil  of 
Morayshire  must  he  cultivated,  as  it  is  too  light  to  lay 
down  in  grass.  About  half  the  ground  has  a  light  sandy 
soil,  the  rest  heavier  land  and  clay. 

On  the  liglit  soil,  which  is  naturally  the  principal 
partridge  ground,  there  is  a  scarcity  of  natural  nesting 
ground  ;  this  is  remedied  to  some  extent  ])y  fencing  off 


BY  MANY  HANDS  137 

and  planting  odd  corners,  which  make  good  cover  and 
nesting  ground  for  the  birds.  These  plantations  become 
useless  when  the  trees  grow  up,  unless  they  are  kept  well 
pruned  down  and  thinned  out. 

As  many  of  the  wild  nests  as  possible  are  found  before 
the  birds  begin  to  brood  ;  it  is  not  considered  safe  to  look 
among  cover  afterwards.  Nests  are  visited  in  the  early 
morning  three  times  a  week.  Fifteen  is  the  average 
number  of  eggs  laid,  but  nests  are  often,  and  successfully, 
made  up  to  25  eggs.  Eggs  are  constantly  changed  from 
one  part  of  the  estate  to  another. 

The  '  French  system '  has  been  employed  here  for 
some  six  years  ;  it  has  proved  successful  from  the  start, 
has  never  given  any  trouble,  and  is  considered  the  best 
way  to  keep  up  a  good  stock  of  partridges.  Thirty  brace 
of  Hungarians  are  bought  each  year  in  November  for  the 
pens,  and  the  average  number  of  young  birds  over  a 
period  of  years  is  360 ;  in  some  years  the  broods  have 
averaged  as  high  as  19.  Owing  to  wet  and  cold  in  June 
the  wild  birds  suffered  the  last  two  seasons,  but  under  this 
system  the  breeding  stock  has  been  kept  as  good  as  ever. 
Eggs  from  nests  in  hay-fields,  roadsides,  and  dangerous 
places  are  saved  and  utilized  with  the  nests  in  the  pens. 

There  are  no  foxes  ;  rooks  are  found  the  worst  enemies, 
followed  in  degree  by  rats  and  weasels  ;  hedgehogs  are 
very  destructive.  Owls  and  kestrels  are  plentiful  all 
along  the  coast,  but  do  no  harm  and  are  not  killed. 
French  partridges  are  unknown  ;  hares  and  pheasants  are 
not  found  harmful  on  partridge  ground. 

Partridges  are  regularly  fed  through  winter  on  the 
refuse  from  thrashing  mills,  which  is  full  of  small  seeds, 
of  which  the  birds  are  particularly  fond.  These  feeds  are 
put  on  waste  pieces  of  ground  or  in  young  plantations 
which  birds  frequent,  and  the  partridges  come  there  almost 
every  day. 

No  disease  has  been  noticed.  Each  beat-keeper  has 
from  1500  to  1600  acres  to  look  after. 


138  PARTRIDGES 

Partridge  shooting  should  begin  September  21st  and 
end  on  December  31st.  Exclusive  of  the  birds  in  the 
pens,  a  brace  for  every  17  to  20  acres  is  thought  a  fair 
stock  over  the  whole  estate  ;  a  brace  for  every  10  or  12 
acres  is  considered  an  average  bag,  and  a  brace  for  every 
6  acres  in  very  good  seasons.  The  stock  generally  is 
always  well  kept  up,  and  is,  if  anything,  increasing. 

Before  the  French  system  was  started,  the  average  for 
five  years  was  450  brace,  all  shooting  being  then  walking 
in  line.  For  the  last  five  years,  despite  bad  seasons  and 
the  ground  being  lightly  shot,  the  average  is  just  under 
600  brace,  all  shot  by  driving. 


PRESTON   HALL,    NEAR   EDINBURGH 
(Notes  by  Lord  Elphinstone.) 

Extent  of  ground  4019  acres,  of  which  1825  acres  are 
cultivated  (1195  acres  in  grain  crop,  630  acres  turnips), 
and  2194  acres  are  pasture.  The  soil  is  on  the  heavy  side, 
with  some  clay. 

To  improve  the  natural  nesting  ground,  double  hedges 
are  made  in  places,  and  any  natural  rough  hollow  or  bank 
wired  to  keep  out  dogs.  Every  keeper  has  a  chart  of  his 
beat  and  marks  down  all  the  nests  he  can  find.  Nests  are 
visited  once  a  day,  generally  between  7  a.m.  and  9  a.m., 
occasionally  about  4  p.m. 

Average  number  of  eggs  per  nest  :  on  first  beat,  15  ; 
second  beat,  14 ;  third  beat,  14 ;  fourth  beat,  14.  Some  birds 
lay  as  many  as  17.  Some  eggs  are  lifted  and  put  in  other 
nests.  Personally  I  would  rather  change  eggs  tlian  put 
down  Hungarians.  I  once  put  down  100  brace  of  Hun- 
garians, and  think  they  did  good,  but  only  by  keeping 
them  six  weeks  or  so  in  pheasantries,  and  getting  them 
strong  and  liealthy,  and  less  wild.  In  my  opinion,  im- 
porters of  Hungarians  are  wrong  in  advising  buyers  to 
turn  them  out  the  same  night  they  arrive. 


BY  MANY  HANDS  139 

There  are  practically  no  foxes  ;  rooks  are  undoubtedly 
the  worst  enemies  here. 

There  are  no  French  partridges.  My  personal  opinion 
is  that  partridges  always  do  better  where  there  is  no  big 
quantity  of  hares  or  pheasants.  Partridges  are  fed  in 
hard  weather. 

In  this  country  partridges  are,  I  think,  singularly 
healthy  as  a  rule,  a  bad  year  being  always  directly  trace- 
able to  a  cold  and  wet  season,  or  other  adverse  climatic 
conditions  when  hatching  or  soon  after.  Occasionally  we 
have  severe  mortality  from  gapes. 

Each  man  has  1000  acres  to  look  after. 

Personally,  I  do  not  like  to  shoot  partridges  after  the 
end  of  December.  I  believe  that,  even  in  bad  years, 
partridges  should  be  driven  and  shot  lightly. 

Our  stock  is  certainly  not  diminishing  ;  in  fact,  I  think 
it  is  increasing  all  over  the  Lothians.  In  our  best  year, 
1906,  we  killed  513,  303,  892  birds— 604  brace  in  2^  days. 
The  third  day  we  were  stopped  first  drive  after  lunch  by 
a  thick  fog,  or  would  have  easily  killed  300  brace. 


CHARTERHALL,  BERWICKSHIRE 
(Notes  by  Colonel  A.  Trotter.) 

6000  acres  ;  loam  soil ;  two-thirds  cultivated  on  a  five- 
year  shift. 

The  natural  nesting  ground  is  improved  by  fencing 
strips  of  land  along  the  hedges  (no  nests  in  these  first 
season,  last  year  several).  Artificial  nesting  places  made 
in  most  hedges  and  alongside  walls,  by  laying  down  thorn 
branches,  etc.,  answer  their  purpose. 

Wire-netting  erected  to  keep  sheep  and  stock  from 
grazing  into  the  fence,  thereby  retaining  the  summer 
roughness. 

All  nests  possible  to  find  are  noted.     Nests  are  visited 


140  PARTRIDGES 

regularly  as  often  as  possible,  in  the  height  of  the  nesting 
season  thrice  a  week.  The  average  number  is  about  16 
eggs  to  the  nest.  Eggs  are  lifted  from  insecure  or  for- 
saken nests  and  added  to  others. 

Eggs  are  put  into  the  incubator  or  under  bantams  when 
the  bird  deserts  while  sitting  ;  these  eggs,  when  hatched, 
are  taken  from  the  incubator  or  bantam  and  added  to 
other  broods  which  are  known  to  be  hatching  off. 

The  following  is  one  of  many  examples  :  A  bird  sitting 
on  her  nest  was  found  dead  and  cold  near  the  nest ;  she 
should  have  hatched  oft"  the  following  day.  The  eggs 
were  put  into  the  incubator,  17  came  out  and  were  put 
down  with  a  brood  that  hatched  off  the  same  day. 

No  partridges  are  hand-reared.  Eggs  are  changed  to 
a  certain  extent  from  different  parts  of  the  estate. 

In  1906,  100  brace  of  Hungarians  were  turned  out,  and 
in  1907,  20  brace.  In  1908,  1909,  and  1910,  500,  300,  and 
200  Hungarian  eggs  respectively  were  purchased  through 
the  Egg  Guild  Association,  and  distributed  among  nests. 

There  are  foxes,  but  they  have  not  given  trouble  to 
any  extent  latterly,  owing  to  mange  having  killed  a 
great  many.  Several  devices  have  been  tried  to  frustrate 
the  foxes,  such  as  : — 

(a)  Wire  entanglement,  made  of  thin  wire  about  2  feet 
high,  placed  round  the  nest  and  some  distance  from  it. 
Result,  wires  broken  and  bird  killed  by  fox. 

(6)  Placing  old  iron  and  sprung  traps  round  the  nest. 
Result,  so  far  as  known,  to  a  certain  extent  successful. 

(c)  Reynardine  on  all  nests  on  roadsides,  sprinkled 
round  the  nest  and  along  the  hedge  on  either  side  ;  by 
this  means  we  think  that  dogs,  etc.,  coming  along  the 
road  get  the  scent  and  follow  the  trail,  which,  leading  at 
some  distance  round  the  nest,  leaves  it  undisturbed.  On 
one  occasion  we  sprinkled  reynardine  on  a  sitting  pheasant, 
and  within  two  days  she  was  taken  by  a  fox.  Wc  have 
also  tried  liquid  carbolic  instead  of  reynardine. 

(d)  Luminous  paint  on  iron  pins,  such  as  are  used  in 


BY  MANY  HANDS  141 

the  garden  for  naming  plants  ;  placed  at  a  distance  from 
the  nest. 

Our  vermin  in  order  of  precedence  at  nesting  time  are 
rooks,  rats,  hedgehogs,  stoats,  cats,  and  moles.  The  cats 
frequent  the  roads,  hut  their  presence  is  easily  detected 
by  their  footprints,  and  steps  taken  accordingly.  Moles 
have  given  a  certain  amount  of  trouble  by  working  under 
the  nests  and  letting  the  eggs  down.  To  remedy  this, 
insert  rags  soaked  in  carbolic  or  reynardine  in  the  runs 
and  remake  the  nest. 

Owls   are    numerous,   and    kestrels    fairly   plentiful ; 

neither  are  found  to  do  any  harm,  and  both  are  preserved. 

Hares  are  not  found  harmful  :  close  on  a  hundred  have 

been  killed  in  one  day's  partridge-driving.     Pheasants  I 

consider  harmful  and  should  be  kept  within  limits.     They 

interfere  with   partridges  by  laying  in  their  nests,  and 

leaving  the  eggs  uncovered,  even  if  they  do  not  altogether 

drive  away  the  partridge.     We  rear  no  pheasants  here  now. 

Partridges  are  fed  in  hard  weather. 

Enteric  in  a  mild  form  appeared  in  1909,  and  again  in 

July  and  August  1910.     Gapes  has  been  bad,  and  reduced 

the  size  of  the  coveys  considerably  before  the  shooting 

season. 

The  beat-keepers  have  each  1500  acres  to  look  after. 
No  partridges  are  shot  after  the  first  week  in  November. 

We  leave  as  large  a  stock  as  possible,  and  have  not 
experienced  a  bad  season  since  we  commenced  preserving. 
The  -twenty-eight  years  from  1877  to  1904  give  an 
average  of  305  brace  annually.  In  1905  driving  com- 
menced, and  the  average  of  the  last  six  years  is  430  brace. 
No  pheasants  have  been  reared  since  1906,  and  the  last 
three  seasons  average  675  brace  for  about  nine  days' 
shooting.  The  present  year  is  the  best  so  far  recorded, 
2060  partridges  having  been  killed,  being  one  bird  to 
3  acres  on  the  best  beat,  and  one  bird  to  4  acres  all  over 
the  ground. 


142  PARTRIDGES 

BLACKADDER,  BERWICKSHIRE 

(Notes  by  Sir  George  Houstoun  Boswall,  Bart.) 

5000  acres,  of  a  clay  soil,  with  three-fifths  cultivated 
on  a  four  years'  course,  and  two-fifths  grass.  A  large 
number  of  double  fences  make  excellent  nesting  ground, 
but,  unfortunately,  the  partridges  always  seem  to  prefer 
the  roadsides.  I  put  this  down  entirely  to  their  liking 
for  dust  and  grit,  and  am  trying  to  obviate  this  by  making 
places  in  the  double  hedges  where  they  can  take  their 
dust  baths. 

I  have  all  nests  found  as  far  as  possible,  and  consider 
that  they  should  be  visited  once  a  day  when  the  bird  is 
sitting  ;  there  is  then  some  chance  of  saving  the  eggs  if 
anything  has  happened.  Our  nests  average  about  17 
eggs.  A  lot  of  eggs  are  lifted  from  impossible  places 
and  put  into  other  nests.  Eggs  are  also  changed  from 
one  side  of  the  place  to  another.  The  incubator  is  not 
used.  Some  partridges  were  reared  under  the  French 
system,  which  was  most  successful,  but  as  we  only  had 
ten  pens,  it  was  not  worth  the  trouble,  as  even  if  all  ten 
coveys  were  reared,  the  man  that  looked  after  them  would 
be,  in  my  opinion,  far  better  employed  outside.  I  put 
in  a  lot  of  Hungarian  eggs  in  1909  and  1910,  but  shall 
not  do  so  this  year. 

W^e  always  have  some  foxes,  and  they  take  a  certain 
number  of  birds  off  their  nests.  We  remove  the  eggs 
to  other  nests.  Hedgehogs,  rats,  and  rooks  are  certainly 
our  worst  vermin  ;  owls  and  kestrels  I  do  not  consider 
harmful  to  partridges.  Hedgehogs  I  consider  the  worst 
egg-stealers  of  all,  as  they  will  go  all  up  a  fence  and 
never  miss  a  nest.  We  have  many  hares,  but  do  not  find 
they  do  any  harm.  Pheasants  would  do  mischief  by 
laying  in  partridge  nests,  were  the  nests  not  visited  and 
their  eggs  removed. 


BY  MANY  HANDS  143 

In  1909  and  1910,  though  our  best  years,  a  number 
of  birds  died  from  gapes  and  from  some  other  disease, 
which  I  presume  to  have  been  a  form  of  enteritis.  I  put 
this  down  to  the  evil  influence  of  the  Hungarian  eggs, 
and  possibly  to  the  now  prevalent  practice  of  putting 
chickens  on  the  stubbles.  We  feed  our  partridges  with 
hay-seed  when  there  is  deep  snow. 

Our  beats  are  roughly  1000  acres  each.  In  an  open 
season  I  never  shoot  any  partridges  after  31st  December, 
as  so  many  have  already  paired,  and  these  are  just  the 
ones  which  would  get  shot. 

I  regret  to  say  that  I  do  not  yet  know  what  would  be 
too  large  a  stock  to  leave  on  the  ground.  For  the  last 
four  years  the  stock  and  the  bags  have  been  steadily 
increasing,  which  is  entirely  due  to  (1)  driving  only,  (2) 
killing  vermin,  (3)  finding  and  looking  after  the  nests. 
1910  was  our  best  year,  when  we  killed  800  brace.  We 
could  have  shot  many  more,  but  only  had  four  days' 
shooting  with  six  guns,  and  a  few  odd  days,  and  I  now 
think  that  there  is  as  big  a  stock  on  the  ground  as  it 
will  carry.  We  have  now  had  three  very  good  seasons 
running. 


LOGAN,  MULL  OF   GALLOWAY 

(Notes  by  Mr.  M^ Vicar,  head-keeper  to 
Kenneth  M'Douall,  Esq.) 

The  Logan  shootings  are  some  15,000  acres  in  extent, 
the  soil  for  the  most  part  of  a  light  loam,  sandy  in  some 
parts,  and  with  occasional  stretches  of  clay.  Tillage  and 
permanent  grass  are  about  equal  in  area,  the  land  being 
worked  on  a  six  years'  system  of  rotation — corn,  turnips, 
corn,  and  three  years  in  grass. 

On  part  of  the  ground  the  natural  nesting  ground  is 
good,  mostly  in  the  form  of  rough  patches  of  whin  and 
hedgerows,  but  over  a  large  proportion  of  the  estate  bare 


144  PARTRIDGES 

stone  walls  take  the  place  of  hedges,  especially  on  the  west 
and  most  exposed  side  to  prevailing  winds.  Such  ground 
is  improved  by  putting  down  small  patches  of  artificial 
cover  close  to  the  walls  in  likely  nesting  places. 

A  keeper  who  does  his  duty  should  know  (as  nearly  as 
possible)  all  the  game  nests  on  his  beat,  and  should  visit 
each  twice  a  week,  in  the  afternoon,  at  which  time  he  is 
least  liable  to  cause  disturbance  to  the  birds  while  laying, 
though  when  incubation  begins  any  time  will  suit.  Nests 
on  public  roadsides  and  other  dangerously  exposed  places 
should  be  taken  up  and  distributed  among  other  nests. 

We  do  not  hand-rear  partridges  here  in  a  general  way. 
One  season,  however,  we  purchased  800  eggs  from  Southern 
Germany  and  reared  about  160.  I  used  bantams  as  fosters, 
and  when  the  chicks  were  a  fortnight  old  they  were 
allowed  to  roam  in  fine  weather  with  their  several  fosters 
during  the  day,  and  herded  back  to  their  coops  in  the 
evening.  The  young  stock  did  remarkably  well  on  this 
system,  but  of  course  it  requires  considerable  attention. 
T  have  also  reared  successfully  by  turning  down  the  birds, 
fosters  and  all,  into  oats  or  other  grain  when  three  weeks 
old,  continuing  the  feeding  along  the  headland  for  a  time 
after  their  removal.  Light  soil  is  important  on  the  rear- 
ing field,  and  a  couple  of  furrows  ploughed  up  about  every 
20  yards  give  shelter  in  wet  weather,  also  grit  and  basking 
ground,  all  of  them  important  considerations. 

I  have  tried  Hungarians  for  change  of  blood,  and  must 
admit  that  there  were  decided  traces  of  improvement  on 
the  beats  where  they  were  turned  down  :  several  were 
shot  the  next  season  out  of  large  broods  on  the  same 
ground,  and  with  the  marking  rings  still  on  their  legs. 
Still  there  is  no  reason,  evident  to  me,  why  British  eggs 
or  live  birds  from  a  distance  should  not  be  as  efficacious  in 
improving  degenerated  stock. 

While  on  the  subject  of  inbreeding,  I  may  mention  that 
I  once  reared  large  numbers  of  Pit  Games  (fighters)  for 
six  successive  years  with  the  best  results.     Yet  these  birds 


"  Ware   Chase." 


BY  MANY  HANDS  145 

had  been  inbred  for  40  years  without  a  single  off  cross. 
Their  courage  in  the  pit  was  perfect,  they  were  very 
fast,  and  absolutely  dead  game.  I  never  met  with  a 
single  runner  in  this  strain,  and  I  witnessed  (this  in  a 
whisper)  many  great  mains  against  them  in  the  United 
States. 

This  seems  to  prove  the  extent  to  which  inbreeding  can 
be  carried  without  any  apparent  deterioration.  On  the 
contrary,  this  strain  was  improved,  or  rather  maintained 
its  qualities  by  inbreeding,  for  when  crossed  with  other 
dead  game  strains  there  was  always  a  certain  percentage 
of  runners. 

It  appears  to  me  that  the  same  law  must  apply  to 
certain  game  birds,  especially  those  which  do  not  spread 
over  a  wide  area,  but  cling  to  the  spot  where  they  were 
born.  Nature  must  have  her  own  protective  methods 
against  the  extinction  of  species,  which  must  of  a  necessity 
breed  and  interbreed  for  ages. 

There  hre  no  foxes  ;  the  climate  is  our  worst  enemy 
here,  heavy  rainstorms  in  July  generally  destroying  large 
numbers  of  partridges.  The  common  rook  I  find  a  good 
second,  but  as  they  only  take  eggs,  much  can  be  done  to 
protect  exposed  nests,  by  putting  pieces  of  brushwood 
round  the  nest,  but  only  after  incubation  has  started. 

I  have  not  found  the  owls  hurtful  to  game,  though  I 
have  heard  from  reliable  sources  that  they  are  more  or 
less  destructive  in  some  localities.  Kestrels  generally  I 
consider  harmless,  I  have  known  occasional  attacks  and 
an  odd  chick  taken  at  the  coops,  but  the  gun  usually 
ended  the  matter  in  a  day  or  two. 

1  have  visited  scores  of  kestrels'  nests,  and  only  very 
rarely  found  the  remains  of  young-  game. 

In  over  forty  years'  experience  in  game-keeping  in  many 
parts  I  have  never  been  able  to  prove  that  the  hedgehog 
takes  eggs,  but  I  am  open  to  conviction  on  this  matter. 
In  a  general  way  I  do  not  consider  eitlier  pheasants  or 
hares  harmful  to  partridges,  though  where  pheasants  are 

10 


146  PARTRIDGES 

extensively  raised,  special  attention  is  necessary  to  pre- 
vent their  free  usurpation  of  partridge  territory. 

We  only  feed  our  birds  during  heavy  snows,  and 
the  occasion  has  only  arisen  twice  in  the  last  twelve 
years. 

The  only  bad  disease  we  suffer  from  here  is  brought  on 
by  bad  weather.  The  symptoms  were  very  similar  to  those 
of  enteritis,  and  autopsy  showed  that  the  birds  had  eaten 
certain  grass  seeds,  usually  found  in  very  wet  seasons,  and 
inducing  a  form  of  enteritis.  This  disease  swept  off  a 
great  number  of  young  birds,  mostly  when  fully  half- 
grown.  I  caught  many  of  them  which,  though  unable  to 
fly,  were  otherwise  in  fair  condition.  The  action  of  this 
trouble  was  slow,  as  birds  I  caught  and  marked  showed 
little  change  when  caught  again  some  days  later. 

Though  I  have  no  proof  that  either  dips  or  artificial 
manures  are  injurious  to  game,  I  have  a  strong  suspicion 
that  certain  brands  are  responsible  for  the  high  death-rate 
prevailing  in  some  parts  of  England. 

One  of  the  Logan  men  has  a  beat  of  8000  acres, 
another  one  of  2000,  the  remaining  beats  being  about  1000 
acres  each,  which  latter  figure  I  consider  quite  suflScient 
for  a  good  man  to  look  after  in  good  partridge  country 
containing  many  villages. 

Our  regular  shooting  ends  in  December,  giving  the 
keeper  a  month  in  which  to  decide  how  his  stock  stands, 
and  whether  or  not  another  short  day  can  be  had  without 
undue  reduction  of  his  breeding  stock.  The  desirable 
breeding  stock  varies  largely  on  different  ground  ;  on 
grass-lands  the  birds  will  not  increase  beyond  a  certain 
figure.  Generally,  where  all  conditions  are  favourable,  I 
would  estimate  that  a  brace  of  birds  to  every  3  acres  is 
the  maximum  breeding  stock  to  leave  on  the  ground  by 
January  1st.  Our  stock  here  decreased  greatly  in  recent 
years,  owing  to  a  succession  of  wet  seasons.  In  1910  there 
was  a  marked  improvement,  and  now  we  have  a  capital 
stock  of  healthy  birds. 


BY  MANY  HANDS  147 

WELBECK  ABBEY,  NOTTS 
(Notes  by  Captain  H.  Heathcoat  Amory.) 

Our  extent  of  partridge  ground  altogether  is  about 
12,000  acres.  Of  course  a  lot  of  this  is  liardly  sliot  over, 
and  carries  a  very  small  stock  on  it.  It  is  practically  all 
cultivated.  Soil  varies  very  much  in  different  parts  of  the 
estate,  one  side  being  sandy,  the  other  heavy  clay. 

Rotation  of  Crops. — Average  four. years'  shift,  but  on 
heavy  land  some  farmers  go  five  years. 

Nesting  ground  hedgerows  chiefly,  the  only  artificial 
provided  being  the  remises.  There  are  five  remises  on  the 
whole  estate.  On  the  best  beat  two — one  about  11  acres, 
and  one  about  4.  They  consist  of  ground  wired  in,  wire- 
netting  8  to  10  feet  high,  4  to  5  inch  mesh  at  the  bottom, 
so  as  to  allow  the  young  birds  to  get  through.  Inside  a 
belt  of  shrubs,  or  spruce  and  Scotch  fir,  according  to  suit- 
ability of  ground,  about  15  yards  broad.  Interior  ones  to 
be  divided  up  into  four  divisions — (1)  turnips,  (2)  barley, 
(3)  first  year  layer,  (4)  second  year  layer.  The  only 
advantage  for  nesting  is  that  the  birds  are  safe  from  foxes, 
otherwise  they  don't  use  them  for  nesting  any  more  than 
outside  ;  in  fact  I  think  we  find  more  nests  in  the  hedges 
than  we  do  in  the  remises. 

Nesting  Season. — All  nests  should  be  found  if  possible 
and  visited  once  a  day.  Average  number  of  eggs  about 
18  to  the  nest.  Eggs  are  lifted  from  the  outside  of  the 
estate  and  brought  into  the  centre  to  fill  up  nests  to  20 
or  22  eggs,  which  works  well,  and  often  has  the  advantage 
of  changing  the  blood  to  a  certain  extent.  No  eggs 
incubated  at  all  here,  and  no  partridges  hand-reared. 

We  have  had  very  little  disease  here.  Our  only 
trouble  has  been  the  wet  in  June,  which  has  drowned  the 
young  birds.  On  one  part  of  the  estate,  where  there  are  a 
lot  of  flood  meadows  watered  by  sewage,  we  have  had  a 
certain  amount  of  dysentery  among  the  old  birds.     This  is 


148  PARTRIDGES 

probably  caused  by  the  sewage  bringing  up  the  young 
grass  earlier  on  these  meadows  than  in  other  places,  and 
the  birds  feeding  on  it. 

Hungarians  are  turned  down  every  year,  on  an  average 
about  400  l)race  of  Hungarians  for  the  whole  estate. 
Some  we  pen  for  a  short  period,  and  some  are  turned  out 
straight  from  the  baskets  through  the  hedges ;  it  all 
•depends  on  the  state  in  which  the  birds  arrive.  If  they 
look  well  and  healthy,  they  are  turned  straight  out,  but  if 
they  appear  to  have  suffered  from  the  journey,  then  they 
are  penned  for  a  few  days.  As  a  rule  we  find  the  birds 
healthy  and  strong,  but  we  always  very  much  prefer  our 
own  birds  for  stock.  They  are  imported  straight  from  the 
Continent. 

We  have  separate  keepers  for  pheasants  and  partridges, 
the  same  man  does  not  look  after  both.  Our  best  beat  is 
rather  over  1000  acres.  On  it  we  have  one  beat  man,  and 
a  man  and  a  boy  with  him,  but  of  course  this  probably 
would  not  be  necessary  in  many  counties  ;  but  as  we  are 
in  the  middle  of  a  colliery  district,  we  must  have  plenty 
of  men  to  do  the  watching. 

Foxes. — A  fair  number,  but  not  troubled  very  much  by 
them,  as  on  the  side  of  the  best  partridge  beat  it  is  not 
hunted,  and  therefore  any  litters  found  on  that  part  of 
the  estate  are  moved. 

Vermin. — Worst  enemies  rats  and  stoats.  Owls  and 
kestrels  not  bad  for  partridges.  Hedgehogs  are  bad  e^^- 
stealers. 

Hares. — Too  many  are  bad  on  a  partridge  beat,  as  they 
are  continually  running  in  the  hedgerows  and  disturbing 
nests.  Pheasants  not  desirable,  as  they  often  lay  in 
partridge  nests,  and  the  length  of  incubation  for  pheasant 
and  partridge  eggs  is  not  the  same.  French  partridges 
do  not  do  well  on  cultivated  ground,  and  also  do  not 
become  sufficiently  numerous  to  do  any  harm.  They  do 
better  on  rough  heavy  land.  They  are  good  birds  for 
driving. 


BY  MANY  HANDS  149 

Partridges  ought  to  be  fed  in  hard  weather^  principally 
with  wheat.  Partridge-shooting,  if  possible,  should  end  by 
the  second  week  of  November.  Of  course,  if  possible,  it  is 
good  to  leave  a  brace  of  birds  to  the  acre  for  stock,  but 
practically  one  thinks  the  ground  well  stocked  if  you  have 
a  brace  to  3  or  4  acres. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  too  many  old  birds  on  a  beat  is 
a  very  bad  thing,  and  I  believe  the  best  thing  to  do  is  to 
kill  down  your  stock  of  old  birds  fairly  well  and  re-stock 
with  Hungarians. 

Our  best  day  at  Welbeck  was  in  1906,  when  we  killed 
739  brace  on  the  Blue  Barn  beat,  some  1000  to  1200  acres  in 
extent,  and  of  a  light  and  sandy  soil.  That  year  the  total 
bag  for  this  beat  was  1669  partridges.  Since  then,  owing 
to  the  wet  summers,  we  have  only  shot  lightly,  but  there 
is  a  good  stock  on  the  ground,  and  with  a  good  breeding 
season  we  ought  to  do  as  well  as  ever. 


PATSHULL,  STAFFORDSHIRE 
(Notes  by  the  Hon.  G.  Legge.) 

About  4000  acres,  of  which  nearly  1000  is  grass  or 
plantations.  The  rotation  of  crops  is  on  a  four  years' 
course,  and  barley  is  grown  extensively. 

Ninety  per  cent  of  the  birds  nest  in  the  hedgerows  ;  no 
artificial  nesting  places  are  provided,  though  scattered 
young  plantations  afford  good  nesting  ground. 

I  certainly  believe  in  finding  all  nests  possible,  especially 
in  a  fox  country.  They  should  be  visited  frequently  until 
the  bird  has  been  sitting  for  eight  or  ten  days,  after  which 
they  should  be  seen  every  day  ;  then,  if  the  bird  has  been 
put  off  through  any  cause,  the  eggs  can  often  be  saved 
before  they  get  cold.  They  are  then  added  to  nests  of 
birds  which  have  been  sitting  for  same  length  of  time,  or, 
failing  them,  put  in  the  incubator,  and,  when  hatched, 
taken  out  and  put  to  an  old  bird  with  young  of  the  same 


150  PARTRIDGES 

age.  This  latter  course  was  successfully  adopted  with 
three  or  four  nests  this  year.  Eggs  laid  in  unsafe  or  un- 
desirable places  are  always  lifted,  and  nests  in  good 
situations  made  up  to  20  or  22  with  them. 

I  believe  in  changing  eggs.  Here  we  change  every 
year  with  three  other  estates  widely  separated,  and  also 
between  different  beats  on  the  estate.  This  mixes  the 
bloody  even  if  no  shooting  is  done  owing  to  a  bad  season. 

I  can  see  no  use  in  turning  down  Hungarians  unless 
the  stock  is  very  low  and  you  want  to  make  it  up  to  a 
certain  number  per  acre.  We  have  not  enough  French 
partridges  or  hares  to  interfere  with  the  grey  partridges  ; 
pheasants  we  only  find  a  nuisance  when  they  lay  in 
partridge  nests.  We  only  feed  the  partridges  in  very 
severe  winters. 

Foxes  are  the  worst  enemies  to  the  partridge  here  ;  but 
it  is  by  no  means  every  fox  that  interferes  with  the  birds. 
Judging  from  my  own  experience,  I  should  say  that 
nothing  will  keep  a  fox  away  from  partridge  nests  once 
that  individual  fox  has  taken  to  hunting  the  hedgerows 
for  nests.  Probably  the  best  protection  to  nests  are  old 
unset  traps  put  down  near  the  nest  and  well  handled  once 
or  twice  every  week.  After  foxes,  our  worst  enemies  are 
rats  and  stoats,  then  hedgehogs,  and  every  year  we  lose 
two  or  three  nests  from  moles  burrowing  underneath  and 
letting  the  eggs  down  into  the  run.  Rooks  do  a  certain 
amount  of  harm  in  late  or  dry  seasons,  or  where  nests  are 
exposed.  I  am  convinced  that  hedgehogs  take  eggs  ;  bait 
a  trap  with  partridge  eggs  and  see  what  you  catch  at  it. 
Owls  do  no  harm  to  nesting  birds  here,  nor  have  I  seen  or 
heard  of  an  owl  doing  harm  to  young  birds.  Individual 
kestrels  may  do  a  certain  amount  of  harm,  but  not  enough 
to  justify  their  being  killed.  Though  not  exactly  coming 
under  the  head  of  vermin,  fowls  on  the  stubbles  are  most 
injurious  to  partridges. 

The  only  time  our  birds  suffered  from  disease  was  in 
1908,   when   several   coveys   were  found   dead,  old  and 


BY  MANY  HANDS  151 

young  together,  when  the  corn  was  cut,  but  all  in  too 
advanced  a  stage  of  decomposition  to  admit  of  a  post 
mortem. 

In  summer,  when  a  spell  of  dry  weather  checks  the 
growth  of  barley  and  wheat,  the  ground  becomes  covered 
with  a  tangled  mass  of  weed  locally  known  as  ^  mountain 
flax.'  Before  flowering,  the  buds  of  the  flax  are  covered 
with  a  gummy  substance,  not  unlike  that  found  on  the 
buds  of  the  horse-chestnut.  At  this  time  it  is  most 
dangerous  to  game.  It  was  very  bad  with  us  in  the  dry 
spell  of  July  1910,  and  it  was  noticeable  how  young  birds 
grew  darker  in  colour  in  and  around  the  fields  where  the 
flax  grew  thickest. 

There  was  a  brood  of  young  pheasants,  13  in  number, 
which  flourished  in  the  corner  of  a  barley-field  till  the 
beginning  of  July.  They  then  began  to  grow  darker  in 
colour,  and  could  only  fly  with  great  efi'ort  when  flushed. 
Some  were  picked  up  dead,  and  were  found  to  have  their 
feathers  all  stuck  together,  just  as  though  they  had  been 
dipped  in  treacle.  When  last  seen,  only  two  young  birds 
remained  with  the  hen,  and  their  fate  was  uncertain.  In 
many  other  places,  where  the  flax  was  thick,  broods  were 
seen  in  the  same  condition,  and  several  young  birds  picked 
up  dead.  Some  old  hen  pheasants  looked  quite  black, 
but  no  old  birds  were  known  to  have  died  from  this  cause. 
Though  pheasants  only  were  observed  in  this  condition, 
partridges  on  the  same  ground  must  doubtless  have  also 
suiFered.  As  soon  as  the  flax  flowers  the  gum  disappears, 
and  the  surviving  birds  resume  their  normal  colour. 

Each  beat-keeper  can  manage  1500  acres  in  this  country ; 
foxes  give  him  a  lot  of  extra  work. 

I  would  say  that  a  brace  to  every  6  or  7  acres  in  this 
country  is  a  good  stock. 

In  old  days  when  partridges  were  walked  up  and  shot 
most  days  in  September,  the  annual  bags  were  much  the 
same  as  they  are  now,  when  two  weeks'  driving  takes  place 
in  the  year — one  day  on  each  beat. 


152  PARTRIDGES 

Since  driviug  commenced  in  1898,  1  think  our  stock 
increased  steadily  till  1905,  since  when  the  weather  has 
been  all  against  us.  In  1905,  our  best  year  since  driving 
began,  we  killed  1600  partridges,  shooting  over  each  beat 
once  only  ;  our  best  day  that  year  was  156  brace.  A  large 
stock  was  left,  perhaps  too  large,  but  the  following  three 
years  were  the  worst  on  record,  and  very  few  birds  were 
killed,  with  tlie  view  of  keeping  up  a  sufficient  stock. 
This  year  (1910)  we  have  left  a  better  stock  than  ever 
before,  excepting  perhaps  the  great  year  1905. 


STAPLETON,    SHROPSHIRE 
(Notes  by  R.  Ll.  Purcell  Llewellin,  Esq.) 

It  would  be  fallacious  to  take  my  estate  as  an  example, 
because  I  sold  nine-tenths  of  it  three  years  ago,  and  have 
only  kept  about  1000  acres.  In  days  before  the  steady 
decrease  of  partridges  began,  I  have  commonly  killed  from 
20  to  25  brace  in  a  short  day,  shooting  alone  over  setters. 
If  I  had,  like  my  neighbours,  shot  with  a  large  party  of 
six  guns  or  more  and  a  number  of  beaters,  I  could  have 
killed  60  or  70  brace  or  more  ;  now,  even  if  I  tried,  I 
could  not  get  more  tban  ten  or  a  dozen  brace. 

This  part  of  the  country  is  ideal  partridge  land,  light, 
loamy,  turnip  and  barley  soil ;  half  arable,  half  pasture, 
plenty  of  brooks  for  water,  and  a  dry  soil.  The  nesting 
is  chiefly  in  the  thorn  hedges.  There  is  no  rough  or 
uncultivated  land,  as  all  is  well  farmed.  The  worst  vermin 
are  foxes,  which  are  highly  preserved.  Farmers'  dogs 
are  a  nuisance  too  ;  wherever  a  man  goes,  nine  times  out 
of  ten  a  sheep-dog  (collie)  follows,  and  even  when  hoeing 
turnips  the  dog  is  there,  often  occupying  himself  in  the 
hedges.  There  are  also  collieries  not  more  tlian  a  couple 
of  miles  off,  and  tliere  is  sometimes  not  a  little  poaching. 
The  country  is  well  keepered,  the  keepers  are  good,  the 


BY  MANY  HANDS  153 

nests  are  found  and  watclied.     Until  this  year  no  Hun- 
garians have  been  turned  down  in  this  district. 

But  all  these  conditions — foxes,  collieries,  collies — have 
been  the  same  for  years  (and  I  can  remember  this  part  for 
thirty-six  years),  yet  until  the  last  five  years  we  never 
heard  complaints  about  any  steady  decrease  of  the  stock. 
Since  of  recent  years  I  liave  spared  my  partridges,  only 
shooting  a  few  for  the  use  of  the  house,  1  can  only  speak 
for  my  neighbours.  They  also  have  spared  their  birds  to 
some  extent,  but  as  none  of  them  (following  the  usual 
style  nowadays)  ever  use  a  pointer  or  a  setter,  they  are 
bound  to  go  out  in  a  party.  Yet  even  with  their  way  of 
doing  it,  their  bags  have  been  surprisingly  small.  On  one 
estate  where  years  ago  100  and  150  brace  were  easily  killed 
in  a  day,  I  have  not  heard  of  more  than  19  brace  being 
killed  with  six  or  seven  guns.  I  did  hear  of  30  brace 
being  killed  there  in  1909  on  one  day,  but  was  told  that 
nearly  the  whole  estate  was  driven  to  do  that,  and  seeing 
that  this  comprises  some  8000  acres,  it  is  easy  to  calculate 
how  things  are. 

The  estate  on  the  other  side  is  in  much  the  same  con- 
dition. The  owner  is  no  dog-man,  and  drives,  and  I  hear 
his  birds  are  just  as  bad,  about  19  brace  being  his  best 
day  ;  years  ago  they  thought  it  a  poor  day  when  they  did 
not  kill  70  brace.  From  two  other  neighbouring  places 
comes  the  same  story  ;  all  this,  including  my  own  land, 
which  lies  in  the  centre,  comprises  some  30,000  acres,  and 
I  know  things  are  much  the  same  all  over  the  West  Mid- 
lands and  A\^ales. 

As  to  the  cause  of  this  steady  decrease,  I  formed  a 
theory,  which  time  has  only  served  to  strengthen,  that 
the  partridges  are  poisoned  (not  intentionally)  by  the 
farmer  through  the  use  of  new  ^pickles'  for  grain,  spray- 
ing materials,  and  artificial  land  dressings. 

I  waited  while  things  went  from  bad  to  worse,  wonder- 
ing at  the  apathy  of  sportsmen,  and  hoping  that  some 
abler  pen  than  mine  would  take  up  the  subject,  but  no 


154  PARTRIDGES 

one  did,  and  so  I  started  the  correspondence  in  the 
Field. 

I  held  a  trump  card  to  prove  my  case  in  a  letter  from 
the  editor,  saying  that  arsenic  had  been  found  in  birds 
sent  to  his  office  for  investigation.  But  that  editor  died, 
and  his  successor  closed  the  correspondence  before  the 
matter  was  settled. 

Meantime,  while  all  admit  the  decrease  of  partridges, 
maiiy  continue  to  give  the  old  reasons  as  the  cause.  Bad 
weather  in  the  nesting  season,  a  succession  of  unfavourable 
years,  overshooting,  egg-stealing,  poaching,  and  vermin 
are  all  advanced  by  different  people  as  the  true  cause. 
But  none  of  these  account  in  any  way  for  the  steady 
diminution  in  the  stock  of  partridges  between  the  close  of 
one  shooting  year  and  the  ensuing  nesting  season,  the  old 
birds  getting  fewer  and  fewer  before  the  breeding  time, 
many  being  picked  up  dead,  and  otliers  continually  seen 
in  a  wasting  condition  and  hardly  able  to  fly.  Nor  would 
any  or  all  of  these  reasons  serve  to  account  for  arsenic 
found  in  birds  picked  up  dead  and  sent  for  examination. 

The  cause  of  all  the  trouble  must  be  a  new  one,  as  the 
disaster  is  ;  if  the  trouble  is  to  be  stopped,  the  old  reasons 
advanced  to  account  for  it  must  be  abandoned,  new  ones 
sought,  and  preventive  measures  undertaken. 


PICKENHAM,    NORFOLK 
(Notes  by  G.  W.  Taylor,  Esq.) 

Five  thousand  acres,  varying  in  quality  from  light  land 
that  will  pay  for  cultivation  up  to  the  best  mixed  soils — 
200  acres  woodland,  600  permanent  grass,  4300  acres 
under  the  plough. 

The  banks  and  hedges  are  very  good  natural  nesting 
ground,  and  there  are  150  acres  of  heath  and  bracken 
(permanent  sheep  pasture).     On  the  big  and  open  fields 


BY  MANY  HANDS  155 

about  40  acres  of  belts  and  })room  covers  for  nesting  have 
been  planted,  which  are  also  found  most  useful  for  shelter. 
The  size  of  beats  vary  from  700  to  1500  acres. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  find  every  nest,  and  no  good 
purpose  can  be  served  by  hunting  large  fields  and  corn- 
fields. The  nests  most  likely  to  be  attacked  are  those  on 
the  bank  and  hedgerows.  In  a  dry  season  the  rooks  take 
several  nests  in  the  hay  and  corn-fields,  as  eggs  get 
exposed  for  want  of  cover.  At  Pickenham  in  some  years 
I  believe  85%  of  the  nests  have  been  found,  but  this  is 
unusual,  70%  being  nearer  the  average.  This  last  season, 
which  was  wet  and  the  growth  consequently  rank,  I  can 
quite  believe  that  60%  to  65%  would  represent  the  pro- 
portion of  nests  found.  The  nests  as  soon  as  found  should, 
if  possible,  be  visited  daily  by  the  beat-keeper,  who  should 
thoroughly  examine  the  nest  if  things  do  not  appear 
normal ;  he  should  know  how  each  bird  is  laying  to  her 
nest,  or  if  two  lay  to  one  nest.  We  have  great  trouble 
with  moles  that  run  the  fences  and  disturb  the  birds  on 
their  nests  ;  I  have  actually  lost  eggs  in  mole  runs,  though 
I  do  not  think  that  the  mole  eats  them.  One  year  I 
should  have  lost  30%  of  the  nests  on  the  estate  by  moles, 
if  they  had  not  been  regularly  visited. 

On  a  large  beat  a  keeper  must  get  round  his  nests  when 
he  can  :  I  have  known  300  nests  on  one  beat  at  Pickenham 
(divided  into  5  beats),  and  it  takes  a  man  nearly  two  days 
to  get  round  the  number.  There  is  one  time  when  I 
consider  it  fatal  for  any  one,  including  the  beat-keeper,  to 
go  near  the  nest.  For  three  days  after  the  bird  has  made 
up  her  nest,  which  you  can  always  tell  by  the  eggs  being 
exposed,  it  is  best  to  keep  well  away,  for,  if  flushed  off 
during  this  period,  it  is  a  100  to  1  chance  against  the  bird 
returning  and  the  eggs  are  all  spoilt. 

If  at  any  time  a  keeper  flushes  a  bird  ofi"  a  nest  during 
the  first  week  of  incubation,  it  is  best  to  put  false  eggs  in 
the  nest  and  keep  the  real  eggs  under  a  hen  till  he  can 
find  the  bird  has  come  back  to  the  nest,  and  then  wait  till 


156  PARTRIDGES 

she  is  off  to  feed  and  replace  the  eggs.  The  average 
all  round  at  Pickenham  for  years  has  been  nearly  16 
eggs  in  a  nest,  and  the  hatch  14.  The  incubator  is 
always  useful,  but  use  it  sparingly,  and  always  remember 
in  rearing  partridges  that,  given  a  decent  season,  you 
will  never  bring  up  as  many  chicks  as  the  wild  bird  will 
herself.  If  you  rear  partridges  at  all,  rear  under  hens  ; 
but  I  would  never  recommend  rearing  on  a  large  scale. 

Change  eggs — change,  change,  change.  Change  every 
year  from  one  side  of  the  estate  to  the  other,  and  change 
a  large  proportion  with  a  not  too  near  neighbour  wherever 
possible.  This  changing  of  eggs  is  going  to  be  the  solution 
of  a  lot  of  our  trouble  on  the  driving  grounds,  where 
coveys  are  sometimes  never  broken  up.  It  involves  an 
immense  amount  of  labour,  but  is  well  worth  it,  and  it 
would  be  ideal  if  every  partridge  on  an  estate  could 
sit  on — 

^  eggs  from  other  corner  of  estate. 
\  eggs  exchanged  with  neighbours  (say  20  miles  off). 
^  her  own  eggs. 
I  have  the  greatest  mistrust  of  Hungarians,  and  have 
seen  very  bad  results  in  my  neighbourhood.  Not  actually 
being  in  a  hunting  country,  we  are  not  much  troubled  by 
foxes  ;  occasionally  in  spring  great  damage  is  done  by 
them  to  paired  partridges.  Our  worst  vermin  are  stoats, 
rats,  and  hedgehogs.  The  big  tawny  owl  is  troublesome 
at  times  ;  other  owls  should  be  encouraged,  with  perhaps 
the  exception  of  the  little  owl,  a  bird  we  have  not  got 
here,  but  which  I  understand  hunts  by  night  and  day, 
and  is  very  troublesome  in  the  Midlands.  Kestrels  are 
harmless,  except  on  a  rearing  field,  where  at  times  they 
play  havoc,  especially  if  they  have  their  nest  handy.  1 
consider  the  hedgehog  one  of  the  worst  enemies  of  partridge 
eggs  ;  he  will  take  them  at  all  times,  and  will  occasionally 
destroy  quite  a  young  bird. 

We  kill  about  1000  hares  every  year,  and  have  never 
found   them   harmful  on  the  partridge  ground.     Where 


BY  MANY  HANDS  157 

a  large  stock  of  partridges  is  required^  the  out  or  wild 
pheasants  must  be  kept  in  bounds  as  regards  numl)ers. 
The  bulk  of  the  hens  left  will  cling  to  the  woods  and 
feed  on  the  rides  and  not  go  far  afield  to  nest.  On  our 
5000  acres  1  consider  200  out  hens  the  maximum  that 
should  be  left.  The  ground  will  only  carry  a  certain 
head  of  winged  game,  and  if  the  wild  pheasants  are  suc- 
cessful in  bringing  up  their  broods^  it  will  be  at  the 
expense  of  the  partridges,  where  these  are  numerous.  The 
ideal  partridge  ground  would  be  denuded  of  pheasants  ; 
here  I  always  leave  a  small  stock  of  pheasants  all  over 
the  estate,  as  driving  in  October  (we  never  shoot  till 
then)  they  give  splendid  shots  out  of  turnip-fields,  espe- 
cially in  a  wind.  Pheasants  are  always  more  harmful  to 
partridges  on  those  estates  where  their  first  lots  of  eggs 
are  collected  for  the  estate  rearing  fields,  as  they  then 
nest  later  and  farther  afield  from  the  main  woods,  and 
often  disturb,  and  indeed  appropriate,  the  nests  of  part- 
ridges that  are  laying  and  sometimes  sitting.  When 
there  is  deep  snow  on  the  ground,  we  run  a  plough 
along  the  sunny  side  of  a  fence  and  feed  the  partridges 
with  barley  or  wheat. 

With  regard  to  disease,  gapes  is  the  chief  trouble 
always ;  enteric  we  have  also  at  times  ;  both  are  very 
diflficult  to  combat,  and  are  generally  the  result  of  un- 
seasonable weather.  On  my  own  farm  (1300  acres)  I 
use  no  artificial  manure  to  speak  of,  and  yet  I  am  no 
better  off  as  regards  disease  than  my  neighbours. 

Our  beats  vary  in  size  from  700  to  1500  acres,  the 
difference  depending  on  the  character  of  ground  and 
nesting  space,  the  quantity  of  stock  left,  and  whether 
near  a  preserved  area  or  the  reverse.  The  right  time  to 
stop  shooting  depends  on  the  season,  but  I  never  care 
about  shooting  partridges  in  January  if  the  weather  is 
open.  I  think  the  maximum  stock,  under  the  most  favour- 
able conditions,  that  can  be  usefully  left  is  a  brace  to 
every  4  or  5  acres.     I  have  left  this  amount  and  had  over 


158  PARTRIDGES 

10,000  birds  hatch  out,  but  wet  seasons  never  gave  me 
the  chance  of  seeing-  if  the  ground  could  carry  this  number. 

I  think  the  ground  should  be  shot  over  once,  however 
bad  the  year.  If  things  are  desperate,  I  go  out  on  Sep- 
tember 1st  and  walk  up  the  coveys,  killing  the  okl  birds 
and  sparing  all  the  young.  I  have  left  a  good  stock  every 
year,  but  owing  to  bad  seasons  this  is  getting  old  and 
weak.  The  stock  generally  is  decreasing  for  the  same 
reason. 

In  1905  we  killed  4123  partridges  in  eight  days  oif  5000 
acres,  and  in  the  same  year  1350  partridges  in  two  days  off 
800  acres. 


WITCHINGHAM  HALL,  NORWICH 
(Notes  by  W.  Barry,  Esq.) 

The  extent  of  partridge  ground  on  which  my  observa- 
tions are  based  consists  roughly  of  about  4000  acres. 
The  soil  is  mostly  a  light,  sandy  loam,  none  of  it  very 
heavy  ground.  It  is  nearly  all  cultivated  land,  with  a 
few  strips  of  old  pasture  intersecting  it.  The  rotation 
of  crops  is  on  the  four  years'  system — wheat,  roots,  barley, 
hay. 

We  have  plenty  of  hedgerows  for  nesting.  I  have  also 
made  a  good  many  belts  for  birds  to  nest  in,  consisting 
of  furze,  birch,  broom,  and  hazel.  These  have  to  be  kept 
low  and  thin,  otherwise  partridges  will  not  nest  in  them. 
I  generally  throw  up  a  bank  with  a  thorn  hedge  on  top 
of  it  on  each  side  of  the  belt,  for  shelter  and  dusting 
purposes.  I  believe  in  finding  every  nest ;  the  keepers 
visit  them  every  two  days.  I  attach  the  greatest 
importance  to  this  ;  in  no  other  way  can  the  nests  be 
properly  preserved.  If  a  nest  is  destroyed,  traps  are  at 
once  set  and  the  vermin  caught  before  it  can  do  more 
damage.  If  the  nests  were  not  watched,  a  stoat  would 
clear  off  nest  after  nest  within  a  very  short  time.     Another 


BY  MANY  HANDS  159 

advantage  of  finding'  all  the  nests  possible  is  that  by  the 
end  of  June  you  can  estimate  the  number  of  your  breed- 
ing stock.  I  lift  very  few  eggs,  practically  only  those  in 
very  dangerous  positions  or  deserted.  These  I  place  in 
nests  round  corn-fields  and  make  them  up  to  21. 

I  believe  in  changing  the  eggs  as  much  as  possible, 
and  especially  in  getting  eggs  from  a  distance  and  from 
bad,  heavy  partridge  grounds.  Personally  I  am  not  in 
favour  of  turning  down  Hungarians,  and  have  never 
done  so. 

We  suffer  severe  losses  among  our  young  birds  from 
the  machines  in  the  hay  harvest.  Here  every  fourth  field 
is  a  hay-field,  and  cut,  as  a  rule,  during  the  last  ten  days 
of  June.  If  the  season  is  a  late  one,  as  generally  happens, 
most  of  the  young  birds  are  only  a  few  days  old  and  prac- 
tically unable  to  get  out  of  the  way.  The  result  is  that 
enormous  numbers  are  killed  in  spite  of  every  precaution. 
I  get  my  farmers  to  leave  the  last  acre,  and  the  keepers 
cut  it  with  scythes  early  the  next  morning ;  but  if  the 
night  is  wet  or  cold,  and  the  old  birds  have  not  come  back, 
many  of  the  little  ones  die.  It  is  very  necessary  to  have 
keepers  in  the  fields  whilst  they  are  being  cut.  Of  course, 
if  the  farmers  could  be  persuaded  to  begin  cutting  in  the 
middle  of  the  field  and  work  outwards,  all  would  be  well, 
as  the  old  birds  would  gradually  lead  the  young  ones  to 
the  outsides  ;  but  I  have  been  quite  unable  to  persuade 
my  farmers  to  do  this.  Numbers  of  old  as  well  as  young 
birds  get  killed  or  mutilated  during  the  hay-cutting,  and 
altogether  I  lose  hundreds  of  birds  during  this  fortnight. 
The  young  ones  that  escape  also  receive  a  check  in  being 
deprived  of  their  food  in  the  grass-fields.  There  is,  in  my 
opinion,  far  more  food  there  than  in  the  corn. 

Of  course  in  an  early  season — and,  in  my  experience, 
all  the  good  years  are  early  ones — the  birds,  or  a  good 
proportion  of  them,  are  a  fortnight  older  and  can  fly  or 
run  away  from  the  machines.  In  that  last  very  bad  season 
all  the  young  birds  that  survived   here  were   the  early 


160  PARTRIDGES 

ones,  which  had  sufficient  stamina  to  resist  the  rain  and 
cold  winds  which  set  in  at  the  end  of  June. 

We  also  suffer  from  the  increasing  custom  of  putting 
poultry  down  on  the  stubbles,  a  custom  which  deprives 
the  partridges  of  food  and  quiet,  and  is  undoubtedly 
shockingly  bad  for  preservation. 

There  are  no  foxes.  Rats,  stoats  and  cats  are  my  worst 
enemies.  Owls  and  kestrels  do  me  no  harm.  Hedgehogs 
are  harmful ;  they  destroy  partridge  eggs,  especially  just 
before  the  eggs  are  ready  to  hatch.  I  know  of  a  score 
of  cases  when  hedgehogs  have  eaten  the  eggs  and  have 
been  found  fast  asleep  in  the  nests. 

I  do  not  consider  French  partridges  at  all  harmful  to 
Englisli  partridges.  Here  they  live  together  very  amic- 
ably, and  I  have  seen  a  French  and  an  English  bird  sitting 
on  their  nests  within  a  yard  of  each  other.  I  encourage 
Frenchmen  as  much  as  possible.  Hares,  within  modera- 
tion, do  no  harm.  Pheasants  need  to  be  carefully  watched 
on  a  partridge  beat  in  nesting  time.  They  worry  the 
partridges  by  driving  them  off  and  laying  their  eggs  in 
the  nests.  The  pheasant  eggs  must  be  removed  and  the 
pheasant  frightened  as  much  as  possible  to  prevent  her 
going  back  to  the  nest  to  lay.  My  keepers  try  to  find 
the  pheasant  on  the  nest  and  flush  her  off  with  much 
noise  ;  occasionally  they  catch  her  and  carry  her  a  few 
hundred  yards  away  before  letting  her  go.  With  the 
exception  of  being  a  nuisance  in  the  nesting  season  I  do 
not  think  that  a  moderate  stock  of  pheasants  does  any 
liarm  on  a  partridge  beat.  If  my  sole  object,  however, 
was  to  have  a  large  stock  of  partridges,  I  would  do  away 
with  pheasants  altogether  on  that  particular  ground. 

In  hard  weather,  severe  frosts,  and  prolonged  snow,  I 
feed  the  birds  by  the  hedgerows,  in  the  larger  fields,  or  in 
any  pits,  plantations,  etc.,  to  which  they  are  in  the  habit  of 
resorting. 

With  the  exception  of  gapes,  I  am  not  troubled  with 
any  special  form  of  disease,  but  after  every  wet  season  I 


BY  MANY  HANDS  IGl 

lose  a  certain  number  of  hen  birds.  I  imagine  they  get 
chilled  and  poor  from  continual  sitting  in  wet  weather, 
and  then  contract  lung  diseases.  My  own  opinion,  such 
as  it  is,  is  that  the  artificial  forms  of  manure  are  not  harm- 
ful. A  friend  of  mine,  who  has  one  of  the  best  partridge 
manors  in  Norfolk,  keeps  in  his  own  hands  1000  acres 
of  land  on  which  no  artificial  manures  have  been  used  for 
the  last  three  or  four  years.  The  birds,  however,  on  this 
land  have  done  no  better  than  on  the  adjoining  ground, 
where  artificial  manures  are  used. 

Size  of  Beat. — A  good  deal  depends  on  the  lie  of  the 
ground,  whether  it  is  a  straggling  beat  intersected  by 
villages,  etc.  If  the  beat  is  compact,  and  in  one  block,  I 
consider  that  a  really  good  keen  keeper  can  look  after 
1500  acres. 

My  stock  was  biggest  in  1905.  We  have  had  no  good 
year  in  Norfolk  since,  although  1908  was  fair.  The  last 
two  years  have  been  unusually  bad,  and  in  consequence 
the  stock  of  young  birds  is  small.  In  1905  I  only  had 
3200  acres  of  shooting,  and  on  this  2400  birds  were  killed 
and  a  very  large  stock  left.  This  acreage  included  130 
acres  of  wood  and  a  300-acre  farm,  which  was  rented  for 
the  first  time,  and  was  not  seriously  driven  or  shot  over. 


WEETING    HALL,   BRANDON,   NORFOLK 
(Notes  by  C.  Cockburn,  Esq.) 

Soil  and  Cultivation. — Extent  of  ground  8000  acres,  only 
300  acres  grass,  the  rest  arable  and  bracken.  The  soil  is 
light  and  sandy,  chalk  and  flint. 

Nesting  Ground. — The  partridges  nest  in  the  corn,  sain- 
foin, and  clover,  also  at  the  edges  of  the  woods  ;  there  are 
no  hedges.  I  always  have  keepers  walking  ahead  of  the 
mower  when  the  sainfoin,  etc.,  are  being  cut ;  if  they  are 
cut  early,  many  scores  of  nests  are  cut  out  and  smashed. 

Nesting  Season. — If  you  find  tlie  nests  and  visit  them 

11 


162  PARTRIDGES 

frequently,  you  generally  act  as  a  guide-post  to  egg-stealers. 
In  this  respect  keepers  must  exercise  great  caution  ;  nests 
should  not  be  visited  when  the  dew  is  on,  or  when  very 
wetj  or  in  long  grass,  when  the  keeper's  tracks  are  visible. 

Taking  early  nests  and  late  nests,  I  think  the  average 
number  of  eggs  will  be  about  15.  I  once  counted  84 
nests  and  that  is  what  they  averaged,  the  highest  having 
23  eggs  and  the  lowest  5.  I  always  pick  up  a  few  part- 
ridge eggs  from  ruined  nests  and  put  them  in  an  incubator  ; 
if  they  are  not  sat  on,  I  always  put  them  in  other  nests  if 
possible.  I  have  no  system  for  rearing  partridges  beyond 
getting  bantams  or  small  hens  as  foster-mothers. 

Change  of  Blood. — I  change  eggs  with  friends  every  year. 
I  used  to  turn  out  from  (300  to  500  brace  of  Hungarians 
every  year,  but  gave  it  up  five  years  ago,  as  I  found  my 
birds  were  getting  weaker,  and  were  dying  in  small 
numbers  practically  all  the  year  round.  In  old  days  the 
English  partridge  was  as  tough  and  sturdy  a  bird  as 
existed,  and  seemed  able  to  stand  anything ;  but  now  the 
partridges  are  much  more  weakly,  they  do  not  weigh  as 
much,  and  I  do  not  think  their  eggs  hatch  out  as  well  as 
they  used  to  twelve  to  fifteen  years  ago. 

Vermin. — There  are  no  foxes.  Rats  are  by  far  the 
worst  vermin  ;  we  kill  between  5000  and  8000  every  year. 
Small  birds  are  a  great  nuisance  ;  owing  to  the  killing  of 
the  hawks  we  have  hundreds  of  thousands  of  small  birds — 
sparrows,  linnets,  and  chaffinches.  They  do  untold  damage 
to  the  corn,  eat  quantities  of  the  pheasant  chicks'  food, 
and,  I  believe,  convey  disease  (enteric,  etc.).  They  ought 
to  be  kept  down.  I  have  seen  flocks  estimated  at  over 
40,000  in  a  piece  of  rye  left  standing  in  December.  Owls 
and  kestrels  ought  to  be  encouraged  ;  they  do  far  more  good 
by  killing  rats  than  they  do  harm  by  taking  an  odd  tame 
plieasant  chick  or  two.  They  do  not  touch  wild  chicks  as 
a  rule,  and  if  a  keeper  leaves  his  small  chicks  out  of  their 
coops  at  night,  he  deserves  to  lose  them.  One  rat  does 
more  harm  in  a  single  week  than  an  owl  does  in  ten  years. 


BY  MANY  HANDS  163 

If  I  could  get  them,  I  would  turn  out  a  hundred  owls  ; 
they  are  the  only  sure  way  of  killing  off  the  rats. 

After  rats_,  our  worst  vermin  are  the  receivers  of  stolen 
eggs,  too  often  gentlemen  owning  shoots. 

Too  many  pheasants,  of  course,  affect  the  partridges  ; 
they  drive  them  off  the  stubbles  and  take  the  food.  In  the 
nesting  season  I  have  seen  pheasants  drive  partridges  off 
their  nests  and  take  possession  of  them. 

The  French  partridge  and  the  English  do  not  disagree 
to  any  great  extent ;  besides,  the  Frenchman  lives  on 
warren  and  bracken  lands,  where  the  grey  bird  could  not 
exist.  If  you  open  his  crop  you  find  it  full  of  the  seeds  that 
grow  on  the  fronds  of  the  bracken.  We  have  killed  500 
French  partridges  here  in  one  day's  driving. 

I  do  not  think  that  an  ordinary  stock  of  hares  are 
detrimental  to  partridges. 

The  partridges  are  fed  in  severe  weather  with  Dari  seed 
and  the  tailings  of  the  stacks.  I  think  they  ought  to  be 
fed  for  al^out  a  fortnight  before  the  corn  ripens  in  August 
in  cold  seasons,  when  there  is  very  little  insect  life  about. 
I  have  seen  birds  at  the  end  of  July  that  I  am  sure  were 
short  of  food. 

Disease. — Diarrhoea  and  worm  have  been  very  prevalent 
for  the  last  five  years.  The  only  artificial  manure  used  in 
the  place  is  a  little  superphosphate  and  bones  with  the 
root  crop. 

Size  of  Beat. — I  have  a  head-keeper  with  eight  to  twelve 
men  under  him  (8000  acres).  Partridges  should  not  be 
shot  after  December.  I  once  shot  on  a  friend's  shoot  on 
11th  January,  when  the  birds  had  paired  ;  they  came  in 
pairs  over  the  guns,  and  we  practically  wiped  out  the 
stock.     It  took  him  three  years  to  get  them  up  again. 

Stock. — As  to  stock  to  leave,  that  is  entirely  a  question 
for  each  farm.  I  have  known  a  250-acre  piece  with  over 
80  pairs  on  it  in  March,  which  had  not  10  brace  on  it  in 
December ;  I  had  purposely  killed  them  down.  I  regard 
old  partridges  three  years  old  and  upwards  as  worse  than 


164 


PARTRIDGES 


useless  ;  they  will  not  lay  themselves  and  chase  the  young 
pairs  away.  I  knew  a  7-acre  piece  of  Kidney  Vetch 
which  was  haunted  by  9  pairs  of  young  partridges  in  the 
middle  of  April,  evidently  going  to  nest  there ;  then 
appeared  one  old  pair  and  drove  the  lot  away. 

PARTRIDGE  BAGS 


Days'  shooting. 

Numbers. 

Total. 

1899 

3 

237 

1900 

3 

208-204-270 

742 

1901 

4 

462-430-233-335 

1460 

1902 

5 

398-453-273-486-309 

1919 

1903 

3 

146-244-212 

609 

1904 

4 

637-431-417-347 

1832 

1905 

4 

383-361-697-265 

1706 

1906 

2 

386-397 

783 

1907 

2 

490-371 

861 

1908 

2 

360-345 

705 

1909 

2 

298-270 

568 

Note 

In  Nov.  and  Dec.  1899  turned  down  500  brace  of  Hungarians, 

1900  „     450 

1901  „     400 

1902  „     300 


SWAFFHAM  PRIOR,  CAMBRIDGE 

(Notes  by  G.  Tosetti,  Esq.) 

My  shooting  extends  over  about  3000  acres,  of  which 
2000  acres  form  my  real  partridge  ground,  with  soil  of  a 
light  nature,  partly  white  land,  partly  red.  The  remain- 
ing 1000  acres  are  mostly  fen-land,  which  is  not  used  for 
regular   driving.      The   high   land,    which   borders   with 


BY  MANY  HANDS  165 

Newmarket  Heath,  is  highly  cultivated  on  a  four  years' 
system,  and  sheep  are  regularly  kept  on  it.  There  is  no 
grass-land,  heyond  artificial  crops,  such  as  sainfoin  and 
clover.  The  fields  are  very  large,  some  nearly  300  acres, 
for  the  most  part  divided  by  closely  cut-down  fences, 
raised  on  low  banks.  There  are  no  ditches,  which  I 
consider  an  important  point,  as  many  young  chicks  get 
lost  in  them,  or  drowned  in  bad  weather. 

The  short  thick  fences  form  excelleut  nesting  places, 
and  are  chiefly  used  by  the  partridges,  though  a  fair 
percentage  of  nests  are  found  in  the  sainfoin  and  clover 
fields,  principally  in  the  former.  Nests  are  also  made  in 
wheat-fields,  the  site  of  nest  depending  a  good  deal  on 
the  season,  according  to  the  advance  of  the  various  crops. 
No  artificial  places  for  nesting  are  provided.  I  have 
found  nests  of  both  French  and  English  partridges  round 
and  on  the  top  of  straw  stacks.  Partridges  here  are  fond 
of  making  their  nests  near  roadways  and  farm  buildings, 
and,  unless  very  much  exposed,  1  do  not  interfere  with  them. 

I  am  a  great  believer  in  finding  every  nest  possible, 
and  have  the  nests  regularly  and  carefully  watched.  The 
reason  for  this  is  tliat  should  anything  go  wrong  with  the 
nest  the  keeper  will  find  it  out  and  discover  the  culprit, 
whoever  it  may  be,  man,  beast,  or  bird.  The  average 
number  of  eggs  in  a  nest  on  my  place  is  about  16.  I 
have  had  many  nests  over  20  and  up  to  28.  1  always  lift 
eggs  and  change  them  about  from  one  end  of  the  shoot 
to  the  other,  my  keepers  having  specially-made  belts  to 
carry  the  eggs  carefully  and  close  to  the  body.  I  only 
have  partridges  hatched  from  eggs  found  in  nests  cut  out 
by  the  mowing  machine,  or  otherwise  disturbed.  These 
eggs  are  put  under  ordinary  hens,  and  when  chipped  all 
but  5  or  6  are  taken  away  from  under  the  hen,  and  put 
in  the  incubator.  When  hatched  and  dry  they  are  re- 
turned to  the  hen.  This  is  done  to  prevent  the  hen  from 
stamping  on  the  chicks  and  killing  several,  which  might 
happen  when  she  has  a  large  number  to  hatch. 


166  PARTRIDGES 

These  young  chicks  are  only  kept  at  home  for  three 
or  four  days,  when  they  are  distributed  amongst  wild 
coveys.  To  do  this  efficiently  my  keepers  keep  regular 
plans  of  the  nests  found,  against  which  they  put  tlie  date 
when  the  bird  has  gone  down  to  sit.  This  enables  us  to 
get  the  date  of  incubation  fairly  close.  The  nest  is 
watched,  and  a  day  after  the  wild  birds  have  been  hatched, 
5  to  10  tame  chicks  are  put  down  near  the  place  where 
the  wild  covey  has  been  disturbed.  Invariably  the  old 
birds  take  away  with  them  the  additional  lot  of  tame  ones. 
1  have  watched  this  interesting  performance  over  and 
over  again,  and  have  found  it  very  successful.  Of  course 
I  am  running  the  risk  of  losing  tame  and  wild  together 
should  heavy  rains  or  bad  weather  follow,  but  I  am 
strongly  against  hand-reared  partridges,  as  I  feel  con- 
vinced such  birds  will  always  be  weak  and  spoil  your 
stock.  For  the  same  reason  I  am  dead  against  the  intro- 
duction of  Hungarian  partridges.  I  attribute  my  success 
to  the  liealthy  state  of  my  birds  ;  being  strong,  they  can 
stand  better  such  adverse  weather  as  we  have  had  for  the 
last  two  seasons. 

I  am  also  much  opposed  to  the  practice  of  lifting  eggs 
from  nests,  although  they  may  be  in  very  exposed  places. 
It  makes  the  birds  dislike  the  place  and  move  to  neigh- 
bouring ground.  In  the  case  of  nests  badly  exposed  and 
in  dangerous  places,  I  use  the  Euston  system,  and  the 
results  have  been  excellent.  This  year  we  treated  twenty- 
seven  nests  successfully  in  this  way.  There  being  no 
woods  about  this  part  of  the  country,  and  consequently 
no  hunting,  we  are  not  troubled  by  foxes.  I  use 
reynardiue  round  nests  in  exposed  places  to  prevent  dogs 
and  cats  interfering  with  them,  and  with  good  results. 

Vermin  of  any  kind  must  be  carefully  kept  down,  other- 
wise no  fair  partridge-sliooting  can  be  expected.  Rats  1 
consider  the  worst  enemies,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  a  good 
keeper  to  see  that  possibly  no  rat  is  left  on  the  place  by 
the  time  the  nesting  season  begins.     Stoats  and  weasels 


BY  MANY  HANDS  167 

give  trouble,  and  a  sliarp  look-out  must  be  kept  for  them. 
Hedg-ehogs  suck  eggs  and  also  kill  young  birds.  Rooks 
should  be  very  carefully  watched.  I  have  seen  them 
hunting  for  eggs  in  quite  a  systematic  way  all  along  a 
fence.  If  not  stopped,  they  would  do  great  damage,  for, 
having  once  taken  an  egf^  from  a  nest,  they  will  come 
back  to  the  same  nest  till  no  egf^  is  left.  I  do  not  allow 
owls  to  be  killed  ;  1  have  been  told  they  do  harm,  but  no 
case  has  ever  come  under  my  personal  notice. 

There  are  many  hares  on  this  shooting,  but  I  cannot 
say  that  they  affect  my  stock  of  partridges,  though  they 
are  a  nuisance  when  driving.  Pheasants  ought  to  be  kept 
to  a  very  limited  number  on  a  good  partridge  shoot.  It 
is  my  opinion  that  many  partridge  shoots  have  been  spoiled 
by  too  many  pheasants  being  reared.  Partridges  require 
a  clean,  healthy  soil  not  tainted  by  numbers  of  pheasants 
running  over  it.  Pheasants  disturb  the  partridges,  are 
very  fond  of  laying  in  their  nests,  and  I  have  seen  a 
partridg>e  chick  killed  by  an  old  spiteful  cock-pheasant. 

There  are  only  very  few  French  partridges  on  this 
shoot ;  I  do  not  consider  their  presence  harmful,  but 
would  not  care  for  too  many.  I  believe  in  feeding 
partridges  from  January  almost  to  the  time  of  the  breed- 
ing season.  Wheat  I  consider  the  best  food,  for  it  keeps 
them  warm  when  no  other  grain  can  be  got  by  them, 
and  gets  the  birds  into  good  condition  for  the  laying 
season.  I  have  often  been  complimented  on  the  size 
and  fine  condition  of  the  birds  killed  on  this  place,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  they  are  good  fliers  and  give 
sport. 

1  have  not  found  that  artificial  m.anure  is  injurious  to 
birds. 

I  employ  two  keepers  :  the  shooting  being  a  very  open 
one,  they  are  sufficient  to  look  after  it.  Besides,  the 
farmers,  shepherds,  and  labourers  are  all  good  fellows 
here,  and  take  an  interest  in  my  shooting. 

I   rarely  shoot    partridges    after    Christmas,    except. 


168  PARTRIDGES 

perhaps,  a  few  brace  for  the  house.     I  leave  a  large  stock, 
quite  500  brace  to  the  2000  acres. 

My  best  day's  driving  was  314  brace  over  not  more 
than  500  acres,  six  guns,  and  only  one  set  of  beaters, 
as  I  am  adverse  to  having  two  sets  of  beaters.  My 
best  total  was  for  the  season  1907-1908,  2704  partridges. 
The  last  two  seasons  were  bad  ones,  still  I  had  the  good 
luck  to  kill  over  600  brace  last  year,  and  over  700  brace 
in  the  present  season.  It  is  in  bad  seasons  that  the 
healthy  and  strong  condition  of  birds  will  tell  most. 


STETCHWORTH,    CAMBRIDGESHIRE 

(Notes  by  Mr.  R.  Hersey,  head-keeper  to  the 
Earl  of  Ellesmere.) 

This  shoot  is  about  5500  acres,  of  which  2500  acres 
have  a  light  and  sandy  soil.  On  the  rest  of  the  ground 
the  soil  is  heavy  and  sticky,  and  not  suitable  for  game, 
as  it  adheres  to  their  feet.  Almost  all  is  ploughed,  and 
cropped  on  the  four-course  system. 

The  nesting  ground  on  the  light  land  consists  of  beech 
and  fir  belts  and  some  quickthorn  hedges  ;  on  the  heavy 
land  all  hedgerows.  We  have  two  long  narrow  estates 
adjoining.  Each  has  a  large  village  in  the  centre,  which 
does  not  improve  them,  and  both  have  a  great  many  roads 
and  footpaths  :  quite  half  our  partridges  are  hatched  by 
tlie  roadsides.  Dogs  are  our  worst  trouble — of  course 
they  are  well  watched  all  the  nesting  time.  I  never  take 
a  man  off  his  Ijcat  after  the  partridges  begin  to  lay,  as  I 
expect  him  to  find  every  nest  he  can,  and  visit  it  at  least 
once  a  day.  This  keeps  a  man  up  to  his  work,  and  makes 
it  more  interesting  to  him.  I  visit  the  nests  as  often  as  I 
can  during  incubation. 

All  eggs  are  marked  with  a  rubber  stamp,  which  checks 
egg-stealing.  A  good  keeper  will  have  his  own  marks  to 
a  nest  from  each  side  of  a  hedge,  and  will  know  at  once 


BY  MANY  HANDS  169 

if  anything  is  wrong.  If  a  good  watch  is  not  kept,  one 
stoat  might  soon  spoil  several  nests  by  sucking  the  eggi^. 
Every  hedge  or  belt  should  be  rigidly  trapped,  and  any 
trace  of  vermin  noticed  at  once^  or  great  havoc  may  be  done, 

I  believe  in  taking  up  say  twenty  nests  in  a  hundred, 
making  sure  that  the  bird  has  laid  her  first  lot  by  adding 
sham  or  clear  pheasant  eggs.  She  will  then  lay  8  or  10 
eggs,  sometimes  more,  that  would  never  have  been  laid 
had  she  been  allowed  to  continue  with  her  first  lot.  1  do 
not  believe  in  making  up  nests,  unless  a  very  small  nest 
in  the  case  of  a  bird  known  to  have  lost  some  eggs  by 
vermin,  but  prefer  to  hatch  under  hens,  timed  to  hatch 
the  same  date  as  the  majority  of  the  first  nests,  so  that  8 
to  10  chicks  can  be  put  down  with  each  pair  of  birds 
hatching  at  the  same  time.  1  do  not  hand-rear  any  if  I 
can  avoid  it ;  they  have  all  the  disadvantages  of  hand- 
reared  pheasants,  and  are  given  to  migrate.  I  believe  in 
changing  English  eggs,  and  prefer  eggs  fi'om  the  north  of 
England  or  Scotland.  I  do  not  like  Hungarian  birds  ;  I 
have  noticed  that  the  stock  has  shown  a  tendency  to 
decrease  on  ground  where  they  have  been  put  down  in 
numbers  for  three  or  four  seasons  running.  They  do  not 
seem  to  stand  rough  weather  as  well  as  the  English  birds, 
and  are  more  given  to  nesting  in  the  open  fields. 

We  are  not  troubled  much  by  foxes  as  the  woods  are 
at  the  heavy  laud  end  of  the  shoot.  I  find  reynardine, 
paraffin,  and  old  iron  laid  round  the  nests  a  good  pro- 
tection. Rats,  stoats,  weasels,  house  cats,  and  hedgehogs 
are  our  worst  vermin  ;  the  latter  a  bad  thief,  and  his 
handiwork  easy  to  recognise,  for  he  always  bites  a  piece 
out  of  the  side  of  the  egg.  Kestrels  are  very  destructive 
to  young  partridges  on  our  large  fields  until  they  get  their 
feathers,  after  that  the  sparrow-hawk  is  a  worse  danger. 
Owls  counteract  any  harm  they  do  by  the  numbers  of  rats 
they  kill,  and  1  do  not  think  they  all  kill  game.  Some 
rooks  are  bad  egg-stealers,  and  have  become  worse  of  late 
years. 


170  PARTRIDGES 

I  do  not  believe  in  keeping  a  lot  of  hares  or  pheasants 
on  partridge  ground  ;  partridges  will  migrate  if  their 
ground  is  overstocked.  I  do  not  consider  the  red-legged 
partridge  harmful  to  the  English  birds  ;  the  latter  can 
hold  their  own,  for  they  are  very  pugnacious,  and  I  have 
seen  one  thrash  a  game  bantam.  I  feed  with  a  little 
wheat,  barley,  or  seeds  in  the  belts  when  snow  lies  for 
long. 

We  have  had  a  few  birds  die  from  a  wasting  disease, 
but  although  I  have  had  them  analysed,  the  cause  of  death 
was  not  discovered  ;  they  are  mostly  found  after  a  very 
cold  and  wet  spring.  Gapes  are  worst  when  such  a  spring 
is  followed  by  a  hot,  dry  summer  ;  this  is  the  first  disease 
to  attack  all  game  birds  when  there  is  a  lack  of  natural 
food.  I  consider  many  of  the  artificial  manures  and  dips 
injurious  to  partridges  ;  I  have  always  noticed  birds  found 
in  a  wasting  condition  on  land  where  a  lot  of  artificial 
manure  is  used  instead  of  farmyard  dung. 

I  consider  1000  to  1200  acres  plenty  for  a  man  to  see 
after  properly. 

I  think  partridge-shooting  should  end  first  week  in 
January.  I  prefer  a  fair  stock  to  a  superabundant,  some- 
thing like  150  to  200  brace  per  1000  acres,  but  this  varies 
much  on  different  ground  according  to  how  much  feed 
there  is. 

Our  bags  have  steadily  increased  except  in  very  bad 
seasons,  such  as  the  last  two.  On  the  eSrd  October  1900, 
seven  guns  killed  724  partridges  here  on  about  the  same 
number  of  acres.  Our  best  season  was  1007-1008,  when 
2508  partridges  were  killed,  of  which  2180  came  off  the 
light  land,  and  only  418  from  the  heavy ;  so  you  will  see 
the  vast  difference  there  is  in  good  and  bad  land  for 
partridges.  In  my  opinion  heavy  land  is  not  worth 
keeper's  wages  for  partridges.  In  fourteen  seasons  our 
best  day  off  the  heavy  land  was  130  brace. 


BY  MANY  HANDS  171 


THE    HOO,    HERTFORDSHIRE 

(Notes  by  Mr.  Ross,  head-keeper  to 
Viscount  Hampden.) 

Ejctent.  —  4500  acres.  Soil,  loam  on  chalk.  80  per 
cent  cultivation  to  grass.  The  land  tilled  on  a  four  years' 
course  of  cropping. 

Nesting  Ground. — Hedges  with  additional  quicks  planted, 
with  ammal  planting  of  some  young  plantations  in  narrow 
belts,  or  in  clumps  with  a  southerly  exposure,  with  a  view 
also,  if  possible,  for  driving  over.  Where  free  from 
public  footpaths,  small  enclosures  of  about  a  yard  square 
are  made  of  wire-netting,  left  open  for  6  inches  at  the 
bottom,  to  allow  the  birds  to  pass  through  freely. 

Nesting  Season. — ^^'^e  find  as  many  nests  as  possible 
early  in  the  season  ;  when  the  herbage  gets  long,  much 
harm  may  be  done  by  poking  about,  making  birds  forsake. 
I  find  that  the  weather  is  very  often  unsuitable  for  doing 
much  among  nests  in  the  early  morning,  and  that  it  is 
better  to  give  attention  to  vermin  traps,  etc.,  when  heavy 
dew  or  morning  frost  show  footprints  too  plainly,  and 
visit  the  nests  later.  From  8.30  p.m.  till  dark  I  find  a 
good  time,  and  the  best  to  tell  what  birds  are  preparing 
to  sit  down.  The  nests  are  visited,  as  far  as  possible, 
every  day.  Our  nests  average  14  eggs.  All  eggs  in 
dangerous  places  are  lifted,  and  incubated  to  chipping 
point,  when  they  are  changed  again  with  the  sham  or 
clear  eggs  which  were  given  to  the  partridge  instead. 

I  cannot  say  that  rearing  partridges  has  been  very 
successful  here  so  far.  In  this  hunting  country  some  of 
our  neighbours  rear  a  few  partridges  in  wired  enclosures 
of  about  20  acres  with  4-inch  mesh  netting.  It  is  true 
this  helps  to  keep  a  good  stock,  but  the  birds  are  found 
to  give  poor  sport,  and  the  expense  is  out  of  proportion 
to  the  result.  I  do  not  believe  in  Hungarian  birds  for 
change  of  blood.     I  think  that  they  spoil  the  stamina  of 


172  PARTRIDGES 

our  English  birds^  and  make  the  stock  less  capable  of 
withstanding  wet  summers^  like  those  of  late  years. 

To  keep  our  stock  healthy  we  change  eggs  from  one 
part  of  the  estate  to  another,  and  also  with  eggs  from  a 
distance. 

Vermin. — Foxes  are  strictly  preserved  here,  which 
means  a  heavy  annual  loss  of  both  partridge  and  plieasant 
nests.  Where  there  are  a  fair  quantity  of  rabbits,  foxes 
do  not  trouble  the  nests  quite  so  much.  To  guard  against 
foxes,  we  wire  in  the  young  covers  with  G-foot  netting, 
sprinkle  human  urine,  paraffin  oil,  and  tar  near  the  nests, 
and  leave  sprung  traps,  old  and  broken  traps  set,  or  iron 
hoops  lying  close  by.  Some  of  these  remedies  have  been 
successful  at  times. 

Hedgehogs  are  our  worst  vermin,  eating  eggs  and  even 
attacking  sitting  birds  from  behind,  though  I  do  not  think 
they  meddle  with  young  birds  much.  Rooks,  cats,  and 
rats  are  the  next  worst  enemies.  The  brown  owl  some- 
times plays  havoc  among  pheasants  just  taking  to  roost; 
and  in  this  district  there  is  a  Dutch  or  small  owl,  nearly 
as  bad  as  any  hawk,  flying  about  in  the  daytime,  and 
doing  much  harm  among  the  young  partridges.  The 
kestrels  are  quite  as  bad  as  sparrow-hawks  with  young 
birds. 

Pheasants  are  mischievous  if  too  plentiful  on  partridge 
ground,  laying  in  and  taking  possession  of  partridges' 
nests,  defacing  nests,  and  opening  them  out  for  rooks,  etc., 
to  find.  Turkeys  on  farms  are  sometimes  troublesome  in 
the  same  way.  Hares  and  rabbits  give  much  annoyance 
unless  kept  well  within  limits.  French  partridges  I 
consider  good  for  nothing,  neither  for  change  of  blood 
nor  for  sport. 

We  feed  our  partridges  in  snow  and  continued  frost ; 
also  on  ground  where  green  crops  or  pasture-lands  are 
scarce. 

Our  birds  sometimes  suffer  from  gapes,  scouring,  and 
red  tick  on  the  head.     I  believe  basic  slag  to  be  bad  for 


BY  MANY  HANDS  173 

partridges^  except  wlieii  washed  into  the  soil  early  in 
autumn. 

Our  beats  are  compactly  situated  and  1200  acres  each 
in  extent. 

We  consider  a  brace  of  partridges  for  every  10  acres  a 
fair  stock  to  leave.  Our  stock  has  been  decreasing  of  late 
years,  chiefly  owing  to  bad  seasons,  but  partly  from 
changes  in  crops,  very  few  roots  being  grown  now,  and 
the  corn-fields  getting  ploughed  up  so  early,  leaving  little 
feeding  ground  for  the  winter. 

In  a  good  year  we  have  killed  1  bird  to  2^  acres  all 
over  the  ground  ;  in  an  average  season  1  bird  to  4^  acres, 
and  in  the  last  three  years  only  1  bird  to  12  acres. 


ORWELL  PARK,  IPSWICH,  SUFFOLK 

(From  notes  by  M.  J.  Reader,  head-keeper  to 
Capt.  E.  Prettyman.) 

Several  thousand  acres  of  a  light  soil,  mostly  under 
the  plough,  on  a  four-course  shift.  No  artificial  nesting 
ground  is  provided.  Each  man  has  about  1000  acres  to 
look  after.  It  is  found  impossible  to  know  of  all  the 
nests,  but  every  nest  found  is  visited  daily. 

The  average  number  of  eggs  varies  greatly  according 
to  the  weather.  All  roadside  eggs  are  lifted  and  put  into 
other  nests,  no  partridges  are  reared.  Eggs  are  occasion- 
ally changed  ;  Hungarians  have  been  turned  down,  but 
were  thought  to  have  done  far  more  harm  than  good. 

Partridges  are  never  fed.  There  are  no  foxes.  Rats 
and  stoats  are  found  to  be  the  worst  vermin,  owls  and 
kestrels  are  only  occasionally  found  to  do  any  harm,  while 
hedgehogs,  though  destructive,  are  very  scarce.  Hares 
are  considered  quite  harmless. 

Pheasants  and  French  partridges  lay  in  the  grey  bird's 
nests,  but  if  well  looked  after  in  the  nesting  season,  are 
found  to  cause  little  harm. 


174  PARTRIDGES 

In  a  good  year  shooting  continues  to  the  end  of  the  season. 
The  stock  is  judged  while  shooting.  No  special  form  of 
disease  has  heen  noticed,  though  a  few  birds  have  been 
picked  up  dead  at  different  times.  Tliree  hundred  brace  a 
day  and  over  have  been  killed  in  good  seasons,  but  of 
late  years  the  totals  have  come  down  to  less  than  100  brace 
a  day.  Six  thousand  birds  off  18,000  acres  has  been  given 
as  a  fair  year's  total  at  Orwell  Park.  Mr.  Reader  concludes 
'by  saying  :  ''  1  consider  the  recent  failure  of  partridges  to 
be  entirely  due  to  bad  weather,  as  we  were  never  short  of 
partridges  when  the  weather  has  been  good.  1  have  never 
known  so  many  bad  seasons  in  succession,  and  I  have  been 
here  over  thirty  years." 


STRATTON,  HAMPSHIRE 

(Notes  by  the  Earl  of  Northbrook.) 

Extent  about  5000  acres,  with  a  chalk  subsoil ;  on  the 
top  of  the  hills  there  is  some  depth  of  clay.  A  large  pro- 
portion of  the  land  is  cultivated.  The  nesting  ground 
is  natural,  with  the  addition  of  a  few  belts  planted. 
All  nests  are  found  when  possible  and  visited  daily ; 
the  average  number  of  eggs  in  a  nest  is  14.  No 
partridges  are  reared  except  very  occasionally,  when 
nests  are  cut  out  in  mowing. 

Eggs  are  changed  from  nests  on  one  part  of  the  ground 
to  another,  and  we  also  exchange  eggs  with  neighbours 
and  with  friends  in  other  counties.  We  have  turned 
down  Hungarians  on  three  or  four  occasions,  but  I  cannot 
say  with  any  marked  result,  though  they  certainly  have 
not  done  me  any  harm  by  introducing  disease  as  has  been 
alleged  to  have  occurred  in  some  places. 

No  eggs  are  hatched  in  tlie  incubator.  VV^e  take  eggs 
from  nests  'cut  out'  or  from  outsides,  and  put  them 
under  hens;  when  the  eggs  'bill'  they  are  substituted 
(19  to  a  nest)  for  the   eggs  on  which  a   hen  partridge 


BY  MANY  HANDS  175 

has  been  sitting  for  some  time — a  fortnight  or  more.  This 
plan  has  proved  very  successful  in  hatching  off  substituted 
eggs. 

We  suffer  little  trouble  from  foxes.  The  rats  are  our 
worst  vermin  ;  there  are  more  in  this  part  of  the  country 
tlian  in  any  other  district  that  I  am  acquainted  witli.  In 
the  year  ending  March  1,  1911^  the  keepers  killed  11,961 
rats.  We  have  not  many  hedgehogs,  but  they  are  un- 
doubtedly harmful,  and  will  drive  the  hen  bird  off  the 
nest  and  eat  the  eggs.  We  have  few  stoats,  but  a  litter 
of  stoats  on  partridge  ground  is  most  destructive.  The 
keepers  are  warned  not  to  kill  owls.  The  white  owl  does 
no  harm,  though  the  brown  owl  will  take  young  birds, 
as  will  the  kestrel ;  but  I  do  not  believe  they  do  so  much 
harm  as  keepers  allege.  Rooks  are  troublesome  at  times, 
but  are  less  numerous  than  formerly.  It  is  undoubtedly 
bad  for  partridges  to  have  too  many  hares  or  pheasants 
on  the  ground.  I  do  not  think  that  French  partridges 
interfere  wijh  common  partridges  here  ;  but  we  have  few 
French  partridges.  We  kill  a  certain  number  every  season  ; 
they  neither  increase  nor  decrease,  probably  because  in 
driving  they  come  over  singly  and  get  shot. 

The  only  disease  we  suffer  from  is  ^gapes'  in  wet 
seasons.  We  have  no  suspicion  of  any  injury  being  caused 
from  the  use  of  dressings  or  artificial  manures.  Each  beat 
is  about  1500  acres.  Partridges  are  only  fed  in  severe 
weather.  I  do  not  think  partridges  should  be  shot  after 
Christmas. 

I  do  not  know  what  to  suggest  as  to  stock  when  reduced 
by  one  or  two  bad  seasons,  but  I  do  believe  that  it  is  a 
mistake  not  to  shoot  over  the  ground  lightly  once,  even 
in  a  bad  season.  We  had  a  better  stock  in  the  spring 
of  1909  than  we  have  had  for  many  years,  but  two  bad 
seasons  have  much  reduced  this :  we  now  have  a  fair 
stock  over  all  the  ground. 

It  is  difficult  to  answer  your  question  about  acres  to 
each  bird  killed  on  a  beat  and  all  over  the  ground  with 


176  PARTRIDGES 

any  accuracy.  The  area  of  ground  driven  in  a  day  varies 
according  to  the  season — i.e.  the  number  of  birds  on  the 
ground. 

My  calculation  of  extent  of  ground  available  is  a  rough 
one  :  taking  the  acreage  of  farms,  which  includes  roads, 
buildings,  gardens,  etc.,  I  put  it  at  .5000  acres.  Tal<ing 
this  as  approximately  correct,  we  killed  in  1906  1  bird 
to  1*8  acres,  and  in  the  last  two  years,  bad  seasons,  1 
tird  to  4|  acres.  In  a  good  season  we  have  killed  a  bird 
to  the  acre  on  a  beat. 


Un 


yjsf/->^-c-^/7. 


"  Vermin.' 


CHAPTER  VI 

VERMIN 

What  the  real  enemies  of  game  are,  and  how  they  should 
be  dealt  with — What  animals  and  birds  are  unjustly 
included  in  the  list  of  proscription. 

Since  the  dim  and  distant  age  when  our 
primitive  ancestor  first  won  the  mastery 
over  those  monstrous  forms  of  early  life, 
whose  uncouth  lineaments  we  may  still 
outline  in  shadowy  fashion  from  the  grim 
bony  structures  in  our  natural  history 
galleries,  Man  has  advanced  from  a 
precarious  supremacy  to  a  complete 
dominion  over  all  the  beasts  of  the  field. 

That  the  heavy  weight  of  responsi- 
bility, which  such  power  over  his  fellow- 
creatures  must  of  a  necessity  involve,  has 
lain  lightly  on  the  soul  of  man  in  the 
past,  let  the  shades  of  the  vanished  gare 

177  12 


178  PARTRIDGES 

fowl,  dodo,  moa,  and  a  hundred  other 
lost  or  vanishing  forms  of  bird-life,  bear 
abundant  testimony.  Happily,  however, 
for  what  remains  of  our  native  fauna  in 
this  country,  the  last  fifty  years  have  seen 
a  marked  change  for  the  better  in  our 
attitude  towards  the  wild  life  around  us. 
A  new  and  wholesome  interest  in  nature 
and  natural  history  has  accompanied  the 
advance  of  education,  and  found  favour 
with  the  general  public,  till  lately  caring 
nothing  for  these  things  and  viewing 
them  only  with  the  indifference  born  of 
ignorance. 

The  spread  of  a  better  feeling  among 
all  classes  and  the  useful  legislation  of 
the  Wild  Birds'  Protection  Act  have  done 
good  work,  and  though  the  damage 
wrought  in  the  past  is  in  large  measure 
irreparable,  for  the  bustard  and  the 
spoonbill  are  gone  for  ever,  nor  may 
we  again  hope  for  the  graceful  form  of 
the  kite  or  the  harrier  to  gladden  the 
eye  on  a  country  ramble ;  though  the 
ruthless    collector,    indefatigable    in    his 


VERMIN  179 

errands  of  destruction,  is  still  rife  in  the 
land ;  though  ignorance  and  the  dic- 
tates of  fashion  still  allow  women  to 
deck  themselves  unchecked  in  beautiful 
feathers  cruelly  torn  from  egrets  on  their 
nests,  yet,  on  the  whole,  the  outlook  is 
hopeful,  and  many  of  our  rarer  native 
birds,  which  till  lately  seemed  doomed 
soon  to  disappear  from  the  land,  have 
taken  a  new  lease  of  life,  and  are  respond- 
ing generously  to  the  protection  now 
accorded  to  them  by  increasing  their 
numbers  and  extending  their  range. 

In  this  regard,  we  must  all  welcome 
most  gladly  the  change  from  the  old  order 
to  the  new  in  the  race  of  gamekeepers. 
The  old  gamekeeper  had  much  to  answer 
for ;  he  knew  little  and  cared  less  about 
any  beast  or  bird  on  his  ground  which 
did  not  come  under  the  category  of  Game. 
The  justice  which  he  meted  out  to  the 
creatures  of  the  wild  was  that  of  the 
Revolutionary  Tribunal — all  suspects  to 
the  guillotine  or  the  gallows  tree. 

Sad  reading  are  some  of  the  vermin 


180  PARTRIDGES 

lists  of  other  days,  dismal  records  of  mis- 
directed energy ;  here  is  the  tale  of  vermin 
which  Mr.  Edward  Ellice  gives  as  trapped 
in  Glengarry  between  the  years  1837  and 
1840  :— 

11  Foxes.  371  Rough -legged    Buz- 

198  Wild  Cats.  zards. 

78  House  Cats  (going  wild).      3  Honey  Buzzards. 

246  Martens.  462  Kestrels. 

106  Polecats.  78  Merlins. 

301  Stoats  and  Weasels.  63  Hen  Harriers. 

67  Badgers.  6  Jerfalcons. 

48  Otters.  9  Ash-coloured  Hawks 

15  Golden  Eagles.  (Montagu's  Harrier). 

27  White-tailed  Eagles.  1431  Hooded  Crows. 

18  Ospreys.  475  Ravens. 

98  Blue  Hawks  (Sparrow-  35  Horned  Owls  (?Long- 
Hawks).  eared  Owls). 
7  Orange  -  legged   Fal-  7 1  Fern     Owls     (Goat- 
cons  (?  Peregrines).  suckers). 

1 1  Hobbies.  3  Golden  Owls  (.?  Bam 

275  Kites.  Owls). 

65  Goshawks.  8  Magpies. 

285  Common  Buzzards.  5  Marsh  Harriers. 

Of  the  thirty-one  beasts  and  birds 
classed  as  vermin  in  this  remarkable  list, 
eleven  at  least  may  be  safely  acquitted 
of  any  serious  damage  to  game,  while  for 
no  less  than  thirteen  of  these  species  you 


VERMIN  181 

may  search  not  only  Glengarry  but  the 
whole  of  the  Highlands  to-day  in  vain  ; 
they  are  gone  beyond  recall,  and  are 
known  to  us  now  only  as  the  rarest  of 
visitors.  Fortunately  the  intelligence  of 
keepers  and  the  interest  of  their  masters 
have  at  last  been  aroused,  the  age  of  in- 
discriminate slaughter  may  be  said  to  be 
past,  and  though  careful  supervision  of 
the  vermin  list  is  still  the  duty — too  often 
neglected — of  every  owner  or  tenant  of  a 
shooting,  most  of  the  modern  school  of 
gamekeepers  unite  some  knowledge  of 
natural  history  to  their  many  other  good 
qualities,  and  may  be  fairly  trusted  not 
to  abuse  their  powers  of  summary  juris- 
diction. Abroad  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
a  less  desirable  state  of  affairs  prevails, 
even  apart  from  those  countries  where 
almost  every  creature  which  cannot  be 
classed  as  vermin  is  regarded  as  legitimate 
game  and  pursued  accordingly. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  vermin 
killed  on  the  estates  of  Count  Andreas 
Csekonics,    at    Zsombolya    in    Hungary, 


182  PARTRIDGES 

during    a    period    of    ten    years,     from 
February  1,  1889,  to  January  31,  1899  :— 

1,337  Foxes.  121  Eagles. 

2  Wolves.  4,724  Hawks   and    Buz- 
1  Badger.  zards. 

6  Wild  Cats.  4,394  Sparrow-Hawks. 

488  Polecats,    Hedge-  41,903  Crows, 

hogs,  and  Ham-  10,783  Magpies, 

sters.  6,770  Owls. 

19,856  Weasels.  36,481  Other     Birds     of 
908  Cur  Dogs.  Prey. 

904  Cats. 

making  a  total  of  128,678  head. 

Nearly  seven  thousand  owls,  some 
thousands  of  presumably  harmless  hawks, 
and  between  thirty  and  forty  thousand 
unspecified  and  probably  unidentified 
"other  birds  of  prey,"  among  which 
there  must  surely  have  been  numbered 
many  a  rare  and  interesting  innocent, 
many  a  humble  and  harmless  farmer's 
friend.  Unless  this  be  an  isolated  instance, 
it  would  seem  that  in  Hungary  the 
interests  of  natural  history  and  agri- 
culture alike  receive  small  consideration 
at  the  hands  of  the  game-preserver. 

Let    us    then,    in    dealing    with    the 


VERMIN  183 

question  of  vermin  in  this  country,  hold 
a  court  of  justice  before  which  we  shall 
summon  all  supposed  offenders,  duly 
weigh  evidence,  both  for  and  against  the 
accused,  and  pronounce  judgment,  not, 
indeed,  tempered  by  mercy — for  proved 
vermin  must  be  placed  beyond  the  pale — 
yet,  we  will  trust,  equally  untainted  by 
prejudice. 

If  we  deal  with  our  suspects  in  order, 
according  to  the  gravity  of  the  charge 
presented  against  them,  few  will  deny 
the  common  brown  rat  priority  of  place 
over  all  comers.  Since,  under  the  more 
humane  influences  of  modern  legislation, 
the  horrors  of  the  rat-pit  were  abolished, 
and  live  rats  ceased  to  fetch  3s.  a  dozen 
in  the  open  market,  the  rat  cannot  be 
said-  to  have  a  single  friend  left  in  the 
world.  His  crimes  are  legion  and  his 
omnivorous  voracity  beyond  all  belief: 
he  destroys  untold  quantities  of  grain  in 
the  stackyard,  while  he  will  tear  the  very 
nails  and  skin  off  the  elephants'  feet  at 
the  Zoo ;  he  will  eat  a  turnip  or  a  five- 


184  PARTRIDGES 

pound  note  with  equal  avidity  ;  has  killed 
babies  in  the  cradle/  and  tramps  sleeping 
in  a  barn.  He  has  been  known  to  eat 
his  way  straight  through  a  live  fat  pig, 
while  it  is  recorded  that  when  the  band- 
stand of  the  Gaiety  Restaurant  was  re- 
moved a  few  years  ago,  beneath  were 
found  the  remains  of  no  less  than  1728 
serviettes,  dragged  there  and  destroyed 
by  the  rats.  The  zenith  of  his  sublime 
audacity  may  be  said  to  have  been 
reached  when  we  read  that  in  many 
public  gardens  the  mighty  hippopotamus, 
turning  over  in  his  sleep,  has  squashed 
flat  numbers  of  rats  which  had  come  to 
gnaw  at  his  extremities. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  events,  and 
without  taking  into  any  account  the 
serious  hurt  done  to  game,  or  the  perhaps 
somewhat  abnormal  damage  to  hippo- 
potami or  table-linen,  it  has  been  estimated, 
at  a  very  moderate  computation,  that  rats 
cost  the  community  in  this  country  some 

^  'Die  last  recorded  instance  was  at  Levvisham  in 
November  1905,  when  a  six  weeks'  old  child  was  gnawed 
to  death  in  the  cradle. 


VERMIN  185 

twenty  millions  a  year — a  heavy  price 
indeed  to  pay  for  the  entertainment  of 
so  unlovely  and  undesirable  a  guest. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  despite  the  heavy 
tax  he  levies  on  rich  and  poor,  countrymen 
and  townsfolk  alike,  the  rat  has  enjoyed 
a  strange  toleration  at  the  hands  of  man. 
This  can  only  arise,  one  would  think,  from 
ignorance ;  the  bulk  of  his  depredations 
take  place  unseen  or  underground  ;  what 
the  eye  does  not  see  the  heart  will  not 
grieve  for,  and  while  the  farmer  seldom 
fails  to  take  instant  notice  of  a  single 
turnip  broken  by  a  hare,  he  often  acquiesces 
with  seeming  indifference  in  supporting  a 
host  of  hungry  dependants  on  the  produce 
of  his  farm.  Spasmodic  efforts  are  indeed 
made  from  time  to  time  to  deal  with  the 
trouble  in  places  where  the  rats  have 
increased  beyond  all  measure,  but  such 
local  and  independent  efforts  can  scarcely 
touch  the  fringe  of  the  evil,  and  leave 
no  permanent  effect.  This  may  be  easily 
understood  when  we  consider  the  amaz- 
ing  fecundity  of  the   rat.      Mr.    JNIillais 


186  PARTRIDGES 

estimates  that  a  young  doe  rat  of  three 
months  old,  giving  birth  on  the  1st  January 
to  a  litter  of  thirteen,  the  average  number, 
and  thereafter  repeating  the  process  every 
six  weeks,  can,  within  the  span  of  a  single 
year,  potentially  be  responsible  for  no 
less  than  35,044  descendants.  Should  we 
take  the  actual  increase  to  be  but  one- 
fortieth  of  the  potential,  it  remains  quite 
obvious  that  only  the  universal  action  of 
the  whole  country  can  rid  us  of  this  pest. 

We  have  dwelt  at  some  length  on  the 
general  aspects  of  the  rat  problem,  apart 
from  the  more  technical  point  of  view 
as  affecting  game  only,  because  we  hold 
that  in  this  respect  we  game-preservers 
are  in  no  small  degree  responsible  to 
agriculture. 

We  have  taken  it  upon  ourselves  to 
destroy  the  natural  enemies  of  the  rats, 
which  enemies,  but  for  the  unremitting 
warfare  we  wage  against  them,  would 
exist  in  enormous  numbers  and  serve  to 
restore  the  balance  of  nature,  keeping  the 
rats  within  some  limits.     This  may  be  an 


VERMIN  187 

unpopular  theory  to  advance,  but  it  is 
best  to  have  justice  all  round,  freely  admit 
our  partial  responsibility  in  this  respect, 
and  impress  on  our  keepers  the  absolute 
necessity  of  placing  the  rat  first  on  his 
list  of  proscription.^  There  are  too  many 
keepers  who  would  regard  the  presence 
of  a  hawk's  nest  on  the  most  distant 
corner  of  their  ground  as  a  serious  re- 
flection on  their  professional  character, 
at  the  same  time  regarding  with  com- 
parative equanimity  a  hedgerow  overrun 
with  rats  at  their  very  door. 

Yet  rats  are  in  reality  the  keeper's 
worst  enemies,  confirmed  and  pertinacious 
egg-stealers,  deadly  foes  to  all  young  game, 
both  winged  and  ground.  Their  destruc- 
tive powers  are  almost  incredible ;  Mr. 
Nelson    Zambra    describes,   in    a    recent 

^  Since  these  Hues  were  written  the  Chambers  of 
Agriculture  have,  by  request,  presented  to  the  Government 
their  views  on  the  rat  question,  urging-  immediate  legisla- 
tion on  the  subject.  Inter  alia  tliey  recommend  that 
"  complete  protection  should  be  afforded  to  all  species 
of  owls,  kestrels,  hawks,  and  weasels — the  natural  enemies 
of  the  rat."  Comment  on  the  effect  that  such  protection 
would  have  on  game  preservation  is  needless. 


188  PARTRIDGES 

number  of  the  Estate  Magazine,  how  fifty- 
two  of  his  six-weeks-old  pheasant  poults 
were  killed  in  a  single  night  by  one  old 
buck  rat,  every  one  being  carried  away 
and  carefully  hidden  in  the  grass. 

The  rat  is  becoming  a  greater  danger 
to  game-preservers  every  year,  for  since 
the  modern  use  of  cement  flooring  has 
driven  him  from  many  a  stable  and 
granary,  there  has  sprung  up  an  ever- 
increasing  race  of  hedgerow  rats,  who 
remain  in  the  open  country  all  the  year 
round. 

Since  the  rat  has  been  proved  to  be 
an  active  agent  in  spreading  disease, 
bringing  bubonic  plague  from  India  into 
our  seaports,  and  being  held  responsible 
for  the  recent  outbreak  of  cerebro-spinal 
meningitis  in  Suffolk,  County  Councils 
have  been  given  statutory  powers  to 
enforce  the  destruction  of  rats  within 
their  counties ;  let  us  trust  that  even  in 
districts  where  no  plague  can  be  traced 
among  the  rats.  Councils  will  nevertheless 
not  be  slow  to   avail  themselves  of  the 


VERMIN  189 

power  of  ensuring  a  wholesale  campaign 
against  such  pestilent  vermin. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  no  rat 
is  a  true  native  of  this  country ;  the  old 
English  or  black  rat,  now  practically  ex- 
tinct, is  first  recorded  in  the  twelfth 
century,  while  the  brown  rat,  probably  hail- 
ing from  Western  Mongolia,  crossed  the 
Volga  about  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  spreading  with  amazing  rapidity 
over  the  whole  continent  of  Europe,  and 
was  firmly  established  in  these  islands 
fifty  years  later. 

Like  most  other  undesirable  aliens,  he 
seems  to  have  come  to  stay ;  he  quickly 
polished  off  the  black  rat  whom  he  found 
in  possession,  and  is  now  a  chronic  plague 
in  most  of  our  eastern  counties  and  an 
abundant  evil  everywhere. 

Guilty  on  all  counts  is,  then,  the  verdict 
on  the  rat. 

The  pine  marten  and  the  polecat — 
sweet  mart  and  foumart  of  local  phraseo- 
logy— now  only  exist  in  such  scanty 
numbers    that   the   presence   of  an   odd 


190  PARTRIDGES 

one  may  well  be  tolerated  should  it  occur. 
It  would  be  a  shame  wittingly  to  hasten 
their  already  inevitable  extinction,  though, 
were  they  plentiful,  they  would  rank  only 
second  to  the  rat  as  agents  to  destruction. 
We  dismiss  this  case,  then,  as  'Charge 
not  pressed,'  the  interests  of  science  bid- 
ding us  stay  our  hands,  even  though  it 
may  involve  some  slight  mischief  among 
our  game. 

The  stoat  can  claim  no  such  immunity, 
for  constant  persecution — and  he  is  one 
of  the  easiest  animals  to  trap  —  never 
seems  to  reduce  his  numbers  below  the 
normal ;  relax  the  strain  for  a  single  year 
and  stoats  literally  swarm  on  the  ground. 
To  this  graceful  and  graceless  murderer 
— for  the  stoat  kills  for  sheer  love  of 
slaughter — nothing  in  the  nature  of  game 
comes  amiss,  birds  old  and  young,  chicks 
and  eggs,  all  being  alike  destroyed. 
Some  service  the  stoat  certainly  does 
render  to  mankind  by  preying  on  the 
smaller  rodents,  but  these  virtuous  deeds 
weigh  but  light   in   the   balance   against 


VERMIN  191 

the  mass  of  his  enormities,  and  the 
extreme  penalty  of  the  law  is  all  that  this 
cunning  and  enterprising  ruffian  can  look 
to  receive  at  our  hands. 

The  weasel,  often,  though  needlessly, 
confused  with  his  larger  congener,  is  a 
more  difficult  case  to  dispose  of.  There 
is  certainly  a  strong  opinion  among  out- 
side authorities — that  is  to  say,  naturalists 
who  have  never  had  a  hand  in  preserving 
game  themselves  —  that  keepers  bear  an 
unjust  grudge  against  the  weasel,  and 
wrongly  place  him  on  the  list  of  pro- 
scription. We  are  told  that  the  misdeeds 
of  the  stoat  are  attributed  to  the  weasel, 
and  that  in  truth  the  good  he  does 
to  agriculture  far  outweighs  any  trivial 
injury  he  may  inflict  on  game.  But  is 
this  injury  so  trivial,  we  would  ask  ? 
Doubtless  rats,  voles,  mice,  and  small 
birds  form  his  staple  diet,  but  that  so 
swift  and  fearless  a  hunter  can  ever  be 
expected  to  spare  our  game  is  more  than 
we  can  believe,  nor  can  he  be  acquitted 
of   being    a    persistent    egg-thief.      One 


192  PARTRIDGES 

must  be  prepared  to  admit  that  in 
destroying  the  weasel  game-preservers 
become,  in  some  degree,  responsible  for 
the  presence  of  the  rat  and  the  vole  ;  yet 
that  the  interests  of  game  demand  this 
destruction  seems  a  matter  beyond  all 
doubt. 

The  hedgehog  —  an  archaic  form  of 
Insectivore,  or  insect-eater — next  claims 
our  attention.  Would  that  his  diet  was 
restricted  by  his  name,  but  it  is  to  be 
feared  that  this  nocturnal  marauder  plays 
sad  havoc  among  the  partridge  nests. 
But  he  has  his  defenders  too  :  Mr.  J.  G. 
Millais,  in  his  monumental  work  on 
British  Mammals,  argues  that — 

The  attacks  on  poultry  and  game  are  nearly 
always  the  sins  of  individual  animals,  and  are 
not  the  practice  of  the  whole  species,  .  .  .  the 
mischief  is  generally  stopped  by  the  killing  of 
the  individual  sinners,  and  only  the  ignorant, 
which  is  another  name  for  the  unobservant,  will 
extend  their  anathemas  and  acts  of  retribution  to 
a  whole  race  of  practically  innocent  creatures. 

Even  were  this  the  case — which  cannot 
be  admitted  when  the  weight  of  evidence 


■f 


.■^  Ci 


%-^ 


"Their  Worst  Enemy."     Hex  House  and  Poultry  on  Stubble  Field. 


VERMIN  193 

on  the  other  side  is  considered — it  would 
be  almost  impossible  to  convict  the 
individual  offender,  for  he  works  under 
cover  of  darkness,  and  only  by  the  rarest 
of  chances  can  the  hedgepig  be  caught 
flagrante  delicto. 

Had  the  lines  quoted  above  been 
applied  to  the  kestrel  or  any  of  the  owls, 
they  would  have  been  very  much  to  the 
point,  but  written  as  they  are  about  the 
hedgehog,  we  cannot  help  feeling  that 
this  conclusion  is  erroneous,  and  the 
suggestion  based  on  it  impracticable. 
Gamekeepers  of  any  experience  in  the 
matter  always  claim  to  recognize  at  a 
glance  the  handiwork  of  a  hedgehog  in 
a  partridge's  nest ;  the  traces  are  those  of 
a  clumsier  marauder  than  rat  or  stoat, 
and  the  egg-shells  are  all  bitten  to  pieces. 
Traps  then  set  by  the  damaged  nest 
constantly  catch  the  supposed  criminal, 
especially  if  there  are  any  eggs  left  in  the 
nest — good  enough  evidence  in  itself  for 
a  strong  prima  facie  case  against  the 
accused.     But  more  direct  proof  is  avail- 

13 


194  PARTRIDGES 

able  :  Mr.  T.  Speedy — competent  witness 
where  the  evidence  of  the  eye  on  a  point 
of  natural  history  is  in  question  —  has 
placed  it  on  record  that  he  has  caught  a 
hedgehog  red-handed  in  a  pheasant's  nest 
on  the  Ladykirk  estate  in  Berwickshire. 
Mr.  S.  H.  Copsey,  Summerfield,  Norfolk, 
writes  ^ : — 

I  went  early  one  morning  to  a  fence  to 
change  some  partridge's  eggs,  and  found  the 
first  nest  gone.  I  concluded  a  hedgehog  had 
been  there.  Although  no  shells  were  left  in  the 
nest,  there  were  plenty  a  few  yards  away  in  the 
field.  Another  nest  was  within  40  yards,  and 
to  my  surprise  a  fine  old  hedgehog  was  sitting  in 
the  nest  eating  the  eggs.  While  I  was  looking 
at  the  beast  he  moved  out  of  the  nest  to  sit  in 
the  morning  sun.  He  grunted  as  fat  pigs  do. 
It  is  needless  for  me  to  say  that  in  my  anger  I 
put  my  foot  on  him,  to  squeeze  out  of  him  some 
of  the  eggs  and  his  life  with  them. 

Again,  to  quote  Mr.  R.  Russell, 
Benhall : — 

One  night,  on  a  well-known  estate  in  Hamp- 
shire, I  heard  a  partridge  fly  from  her  nest. 
Going  stealthily  to  the  spot  I   struck   a   match 

^  Letter  to  the  Gamekeeper ^  January  1911. 


VERMIN  195 

and  beheld  a  hedgehog  devouring  an  egg.  An- 
other time  I  heard  a  hen  cackling  in  the  wood. 
Knowing  she  had  a  nest  and  was  due  to  hatch,  I 
went  to  investigate ;  getting  near  I  could  hear  a 
chicken.  When  I  lit  a  match,  there  was  a  hedge- 
hog eating  the  chick  which  was  still  in  the  shell, 
and  the  hedgehog's  snout  was  covered  with  blood. 

The  first  letter  is  important  evidence, 
for  here  is  the  keeper's  diagnosis  justified  ; 
he  recognized  the  hedgehog's  handiwork 
before  he  saw  the  hedgehog.  Admit 
this,  and  the  suspicions  —  amounting  in 
their  own  minds  to  a  certainty — of  a 
thousand  other  observant  keepers,  who 
have  never  had  the  chance  of  obtaining 
direct  proof,  tell  very  heavily  against  the 
accused. 

We  have  gone  into  this  question  at 
length,  for  if  we  are  to  differ  from  the 
leading  authority  on  our  mammals, 
chapter  and  verse  must  be  quoted  to 
support  our  case.  So  we  now  confidently 
pronounce  against  the  hedgehog,  finding 
that  the  race  as  a  whole,  and  not  merely 
the  occasional  individual,  is  guilty  of  egg- 
stealing,   with    strong   presumption    that 


196  PARTRIDGES 

many  young  birds  and  old  partridges 
sitting  on  their  nests  are  numbered 
among  the  victims  of  the  hedgepig,  who 
would  doubtless  like  us  to  believe  that 
he  spent  all  his  nights  in  "routing  up 
the  cow-dungs  for  the  blackbobs." 

The  case  of  the  cat — including  the 
domestic  cat  gone  wild  and  the  puss 
of  the  farm  and  cottage,  law-abiding  by 
day  but  more  than  possibly  lawless  by 
night — is  simple.  In  its  proper  sphere, 
a  useful  member  of  the  community, 
destroyer  of  small  undesirables,  rats, 
voles,  mice,  and  sparrows ;  out  of  its 
proper  sphere,  an  arrant  and  inveterate 
poacher,  and  to  be  dealt  with  as  such 
whenever  apprehended. 

Of  the  crow  tribe,  the  carrion  crow 
may  well  claim  the  doubtful  honour 
of  precedence  in  our  list.  Cunning  and 
wary  in  all  his  doings,  he  ranks  second 
to  none  as  an  egg-thief,  and  his  depre- 
dations extend  to  nearly  full-grown 
young  partridges.  The  jackdaw,  whose 
presence  is  too  often  tolerated,  is  equally 


VERMIN  197 

harmful  in  the  nesting  season  ;  nor  need 
these  two  look  for  any  mercy  at  our 
hands. 

The  rook  has  taken  to  evil  ways  of 
late  years,  and  is  rapidly  becoming  a 
habitual  criminal  in  his  relations  to  game. 
It  is  true  that  the  guilt  rests  with  in- 
dividuals and  not  with  the  whole  race ; 
but  these  individual  evil-doers  are  for 
some  reason  increasing  so  rapidly,  and 
are  further  so  impossible  to  single  out 
for  punishment,  that  the  whole  com- 
munity must  needs  be  held  responsible 
for  the  misdeeds  of  some  of  its  members. 
Inquisitive,  enterprising,  quick  to  put 
two  and  two  together,  rooks  on  partridge 
ground  at  nesting  time  are  no  favourites 
with  the  keeper.  Let  him  incautiously 
leave  traces  of  his  visit  to  a  partridge  nest, 
and  the  rooks  will  soon  be  there.  Their 
presence  is  most  felt  after  a  dry  spring, 
when  the  nests  are  readily  discovered  by 
their  keen  and  curious  eyes  as  they 
systematically  work  the  hedgerows  in 
pairs.       Even    when    the    partridge     is 


198  PARTRIDGES 

sitting  there  is  no  security,  for,  like  a 
true  bully,  one  rook,  having  made  the 
find,  will  return  with  a  party  of  his 
fellow -roughs  to  mob  the  unfortunate 
sitting  bird  off  her  nest  and  fall  to  on 
the  spoil. 

While  eggs  are  the  staple  attraction, 
the  poaching  rook  will  make  short  work 
of  any  young  partridge  that  comes  in 
his  way.  On  the  whole,  whatever  his 
benefits  to  agriculture — and  farmers  are 
by  no  means  of  one  mind  on  the  subject 
— there  is  little  doubt  that  the  rook  is 
an  undesirable  neighbour  where  game  is 
to  be  preserved. 

The  grey  or  hooded  crow  is  only  with 
us  from  October  to  April,  nesting  in 
more  northern  latitudes,  so  on  most 
partridge  manors  he  can  put  forward 
a  satisfactory  alibi  to  any  charge  of 
malfeasance. 

There  is  no  need  to  draw  any  attention 
to  the  misdeeds  of  the  magpie,  for  his 
striking  appearance  and  easy  destruction 
ensure   him  immediate   attention  at  the 


VERMIN  199 

hands  of  every  gamekeeper.  He  is 
mischievous,  be  it  admitted,  yet  no  more 
so  than  the  jackdaw,  whose  less  obtrusive 
garb  often  procures  him  immunity.  The 
magpie  must  certainly  be  kept  within 
limits,  but  the  utter  extermination  of 
so  fine  a  fellow  would  be  a  sorry  business, 
and  one  would  always  feel  inclined  to 
give  him  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

The  jay  is  another  beautiful  dweller 
in  our  woodlands  who  deserves  more 
consideration  at  our  hands  than  he  usually 
receives.  If  individual  misdeeds — and  an 
egg-baited  trap  readily  brings  the  mis- 
creant to  book — be  dealt  with  as  such, 
the  trouble  often  ceases  altogether.  Jays 
are  the  keeper's  watchdogs  in  the  woods, 
giving  early  warnhig  if  aught  be  amiss  ; 
and  a  fair  sprinkling  of  one  of  our  most 
beautiful  native  birds  will  not  be  found 
an  unmixed  evil. 

Of  the  birds  of  prey,  the  peregrine 
must  take  first  place  for  its  destructive 
powers  among  game.  Fortunately  for 
its   continued   existence  in  this  country. 


200  PARTRIDGES 

this  noble  falcon  is  protected  in  many 
counties,  and  while  no  great  numbers 
could  be  tolerated  on  preserved  land,  we 
can  well  suffer  the  presence  of  a  few 
without  complaining. 

There  is  some  divergence  of  opinion 
about  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the 
sparrow  -  hawk.  One  authority  ^  states 
that  **the  successful  rearing  of  game  is 
an  impossible  task  where  this  bird  is 
allowed  to  exist "  ;  another,^  with  ten 
years'  practical  experience  of  game- 
keeping  to  give  weight  to  his  opinion, 
writes  that — 

It  is  high  time  that  sparrow-hawks  were  placed 
under  the  protecting  wing  of  the  law.  Genera- 
tions of  gamekeepers  have  persecuted  them  re- 
lentlessly. ...  If  sportsmen  would  consider  the 
evidence  for  and  against  sparrow  -  hawks  as 
despoilers  of  game — if  they  would  rely  no  longer 
on  prejudice  and  crass  ignorance — we  feel  sure 
they  would  take  steps  to  stay  the  wanton  slaughter 
by  their  gamekeepers  of  these  handsome,  useful 
birds.  .  .  .  But  sparrow-hawks  grow  scarce,  they 
are  seen  far  less  commonly  than  kestrels.  .  .  . 

1  Mr.  Tom  Speedy  in  The  Keepers  Book,  1903. 
2  A  Gamekeeper  s  Notebook^  by  Oweu  Jones,  1910. 


VERMIN  201 

A  third  writer^  describes  the  sparrow- 
hawk  as  "  one  of  the  most  numerous  and 
destructive  of  our  hawks." 

Now  the  universal  habit  is  to  condemn 
sparrow-hawks  unheard,  and  class  them 
with  the  worst  of  vermin  ;  nor  would  it 
be  an  easy  matter  to  induce  a  gamekeeper 
to  stay  his  hand  when  there  is  a  nest  of 
blue  hawks  on  his  ground.  The  utmost 
we  could  hope  to  do  would  be  to  persuade 
gamekeepers  to  accept  nothing  but  the 
evidence  of  their  own  eyes,  and  to  prove 
to  their  own  satisfaction  that  such  damage 
as  is  wrought  to  the  game  is  the  work  of 
the  species  in  general,  and  not  of  isolated 
individuals,  before  they  condemn  the 
whole  race.  In  this  context  it  would 
be  very  useful  if  keepers  could  be  induced 
to  examine  the  contents  of  the  stomach 
and  crop  of  all  the  predatory  birds  that 
they  kill,  and  keep  notes  of  the  result 
for  future  guidance. 

The  useful  work  of  kestrels  has  at  last 
received  tardy  recognition,  and  few  con- 

^  Mr.  Carnegie^  Practical  Game-Preserving,  1906. 


202  PARTRIDGES 

tinue  to  shoot  them  at  sight,  as  every 
gamekeeper  used  to  do  but  a  few  years 
ago.  A  clear  case  of  gamecide  should 
invariably  be  established  against  the  in- 
dividual before  the  life  of  the  handsome 
and  useful  '  windhover  '  be  taken. 

The  merlin  can  only  be  looked  on  as 
an  enemy  to  game  in  the  summer,  for 
a  full-grown  partridge  is  quarry  beyond 
his  reach.  As  this  diminutive  falcon 
always  nests  on  moorland,  he  may  well 
be  spared  on  partridge  ground,  for  he 
will  be  gone  long  before  any  young 
partridges  are  hatched. 

Of  the  owls,  the  short-eared  species 
is  the  only  one  that  hunts  by  day,  and 
would  beyond  all  doubt  play  havoc  among 
young  partridges  were  it  not,  for  the 
most  part,  only  a  winter  visitor  to  this 
country.  Good  evidence  should  be  forth- 
coming as  to  its  depredations  among  full- 
grown  partridges  before  destroying  it  on 
ground  where  it  does  not  breed. 

No  tawny,  long-eared,  or  barn  owl 
should    ever    be    killed    without    direct 


VERMIN  203 

proof  of  guilt.  There  is  no  difficulty  in 
finding  out  what  owls  have  been  eating ; 
a  very  slight  examination  of  the  pelts 
dropped  under  their  roosting  places  gives 
an  infallible  resume  of  their  diet. 

The  poaching  dog  cannot  rightly  be 
classed  as  vermin,  nor  indeed  can  he 
be  legislated  for  as  such  by  our  court. 
At  the  same  time  stray  dogs  are  the  very 
mischief,  and  their  disappearance  is  all  to 
the  interests  of  the  shoot. 

Poultry  on  the  stubbles  are  another 
adverse  influence ;  they  usurp  the  territory 
and  the  food  of  the  partridge,  foul  the 
ground,  and  are  by  no  means  above 
suspicion  as  agents  in  spreading  disease. 
When  a  new  lease  is  being  drawn,  the 
interests  of  the  partridge  should  be  con- 
sidered in  this  respect,  and  some  restric- 
tions placed  on  this  rapidly  spreading 
practice  of  chicken-farming. 

In  summing  up  we  would  classify  the 
enemies — real  or  supposed — of  the  part- 
ridge in  this  country  as  follows  : — 


204  PARTRIDGES 

1.  Pestilent  vermin  at  all  times. 

The  rat  {Mus  decumanus). 
The  stoat  {Putorius  ermineus). 
The  hedgehog  {Erinaceits  eiiropaeus). 
The  weasel  (Putorius  nivalis). 
The  carrion  crow  (Corviis  cor  one). 
.    The  domestic  cat  (gone  wild  or  strayed). 
The  jackdaw  {Corvtis  monedula). 

2.  Vermin  more  or  less  injurious  according  to 
local  circumstances. 

The  rook  {Corvus  frugilegus). 

The  peregrine  falcon  (Falco  peregrinus). 

The  sparrow-hawk  (Accipiter  nisus). 

The  magpie  {Pica  caudata). 

The  jay  {GaiTulus  glandaiius). 

The  short-eared  owl  {Asio  hrachyotus). 

3.  Not  true  vermin,  nor  to  be  classed  as  such 
— individuals  may  at  times  offend  and  have  to  be 
destroyed,  but  the  race  should  always  enjoy 
protection. 

The  long-eared  owl  {Asio  otus). 
The  tawny  owl  {Syrnium  aluco). 
The  barn  owl  {Strix  jiammea). 
The  kestrel  {Falco  thumncidus). 
The  buzzard  {Bnteo  vulgaris). 

4.  Species  whose  rarity  should  ensure  their 
protection. 

The  polecat  {PiUorius  j^utorius). 
The  marten  {Mustela  rnartes). 
The  rarer  hawks,  such  as  the  goshawk, 
hobby,  and  harriers. 


VERMIN  205 

5.  Naturally  destructive  to  young  game,  but 
innocuous  on  partridge  ground  owing  to  their 
absence  in  summer. 

The  hooded  crow  (Corvus  comix). 
The  merlin  {Falco  aesalon). 

6.  Doubtful  cases — probably  do  little  real 
harm. 

The  squirrel  {Sciurus  vulgaris) — has  been 

known  to   take  the   young  and  eggs 

of  game. 
The  badger  {Meles  meles) — omnivorous, 

may  destroy  nests. 
The  otter  (Liitra  hitra) — sometimes  takes 

rabbits  and  possibly  game. 
The  water-hen  {Galliiiula  cliloropus) — said 
X    to  suck  eggs. 

7.  Harmless,  though  sometimes  persecuted. 

The  water-vole    oi'   water-rat   {Arvicola 

amphibius). 
The  nightjar  {Cap?imulgus  europaeus). 

The  view  is  often  expressed  that  game- 
preservers  are  unduly  handicapped  in 
their  dealings  with  vermin,  by  the  legal 
protection  now  accorded  to  many  of  our 
rarer  birds  and  the  statutory  abolition  of 
the  poletrap.  It  is  hard  to  endorse  any 
such  opinion,  for  the  County  Councils 
may  with  justice  be  said  to  have  exercised 
the   powers    conferred   on   them   by   the 


206  PARTRIDGES 

Wild  Birds'  Protection  Acts  with  singular 
discretion,  while  the  poletrap  was  a  cruel 
and  casual  method  of  dealing  with  birds 
of  prey,  and  one  by  which  many  of  our 
rarer  hawks  and  falcons  were  destroyed. 
By  its  abolition,  the  difficulties  of  the 
keeper  on  the  moor  were  doubtless 
sensibly  increased,  for  there  fowls  of  the 
air  are  the  chief  enemies  of  game ;  but  on 
the  partridge  manor  the  real  danger  is  on 
the  ground,  and  such  few  hawks  as  do 
mischief  can  easily  be  dealt  with. 

There  is  little  need  to  describe  the 
means  of  destruction  by  which  vermin  are 
kept  under.  For  the  stoat,  the  unbaited 
trap  on  his  run ;  for  the  hedgehog,  the 
trap  also,  but  now  baited  with  an  egg ; 
for  the  crow  family  in  general,  the  doctored 
egg  ;  while  the  hawks  can  be  ambushed  on 
their  daily  rounds. 

Only  the  rat  needs  mention  in  this 
regard ;  here  trap  and  gun  are  only 
palliatives;  the  much -vaunted  virus  is 
often  slow  in  spreading  the  seeds  of 
disease   among   the   colony,    and    careful 


VERMIN  207 

and  systematic  poisoning  remains  the 
surest  remedy.  If  due  precaution  be 
taken,  a  large  area  can  be  poisoned  with- 
out appreciable  danger  to  any  of  its  other 
inhabitants.  And  so  the  curtain  falls, 
as  it  rose,  with  the  rat — the  real  pro- 
blem of  the  play — in  possession  of  the 
stage. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SHOOTING   THE    PARTRIDGE 

On  partridge-shooting  generally — Guns,  cartridges,  men, 
and  dogs — Shooting  over  dogs — Walking  in  line. 

"  Fifty  yards  is  as  great  a  distance  as  a  Sports- 
man will  in  general  attempt  to  shoot  at,  and 
indeed  greater  than  he  ought  to  shoot  at.  For 
if  we  will  make  the  lives  of  poor  birds  our  diver- 
sion, we  ought  to  put  them  to  as  little  misery  as 
we  can ;  and  therefore  should  not  shoot  without 
being  certain  that  they  are  within  our  reach,  so 
that  the  shot  will  fly  thick  enough  to  kill  them 
outright."" 

These  lines  have  stood  the  test  of  a 
century,  and  may  well  open  any  disserta- 
tion on  partridge -shooting  in  general, 
for  they  apply  as  well  to  the  present 
generation  as  to  the  one  they  were 
addressed  to.  It  is  devoutly  to  be  wished 
that  the  firing  of  long  and  doubtful  shots 

208 


/ciS, 


'/U 


"U/rjara:  ^^^^^ 


(i)  The  Right  Shot. 


(2)  TiiK  Wrong  Shot. 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    209 

could  be  condemned  by  public  opinion, 
but  unhappily  the  tendency  seems  rather 
the  other  way  round,  and  you  may 
commonly  hear  the  shooter  congratulate 
himself  in  such  wise  ;  **  My  word,  that  bird 
was  a  long  way  off ;  I  never  thought  I 
should  have  got  him."  To  which  the 
proper  answer — never  given — is,  '*  Well, 
sir,  if  it  was  neither  pace  nor  curve  but 
only  distance  that  made  the  bird  hard  to 
kill,  you  are  condemned  out  of  your  own 
mouth,  and  are  guilty  of  a  most  unjusti- 
fiable and  unsportsmanlike  action,  for  you 
deliberately,  in  the  hope  of  bringing  off 
a  fluke,  took  every  chance  of  wounding 
the  bird ;  and  I  fear  would  have  eaten 
your  dinner  none  the  less  comfortably 
this  evening  for  the  thought,  which 
would  never  have  occurred  to  you,  that 
the  poor  brute  was  cowering  somewhere 
in  misery  through  your  heedless  action." 

Enough  of  a  distasteful  subject.  But 
boys,  when  they  first  enter  the  shooting 
field,  cannot  be  too  carefully  taught  to 
play  the  game  by  the  birds,  and  never 

14 


210  PARTRIDGES 

to  abuse  their  powers  over  the  creatures 
of  the  wild.  Like  most  other  virtues 
and  vices,  such  consideration  is  largely  a 
question  of  habit  and  early  training,  and 
soon  becomes  a  second  nature  to  any  one 
who  is  brought  up  in  the  right  way.  But 
we  are  apt  to  gloss  over  our  responsi- 
bilities light-heartedly,  and  many  a  boy  is 
now  watching  his  father  cheerfully  firing 
at  birds  quite  beyond  the  killing  range 
and  will  as  thoughtlessly  do  the  same 
when  his  turn  comes. 

Partridge-shooting  is,  of  all  forms  of 
sport  with  the  gun,  essentially  the  one 
best  suited  for  the  man  of  moderate 
means.  Pheasants  are  costly  creatures  to 
entertain  ;  the  fancy  rents  cheerfully  asked 
and  given  for  moors  place  so  fashionable 
a  sport  as  grouse-shooting  quite  beyond 
the  reach  of  all  but  the  wealthy  ;  changed 
times  have  driven  the  wild  fowl,  once  so 
plentiful  on  our  coasts,  to  harbour  in  re- 
mote fastnesses,  where  few  have  leisure 
to  follow  them ;  only  the  little  brown 
bird  remains  to  gladden  the  hearts  of  the 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    211 

multitude  of  sportsmen  whose  expenditure 
must  be  limited,  yet  who  would  not  rest 
content  with  competitions  at  clay  pigeons. 
Naturally,  if  big  days  are  wanted,  they 
must  be  paid  for  both  in  rent  and  heavy 
expenses  of  management ;  but  while 
thousands  may  be  profitably  expended 
in  turning  a  wide  stretch  of  country  to 
its  best  sporting  uses,  at  the  same  time 
it  is  quite  possible  in  humbler  fashion  to 
enjoy  very  good  sport  at  surprisingly 
small  cost. 

A'  man  who  knows  what  he  is  doing 
can  sometimes  pick  up  500  acres  of 
good  partridge  land  at  a  rent  as  low  as 
sixpence  an  acre.  If  he  then  takes  care 
to  make  friends  with  the  people  living  on 
the  ground,  most  of  his  keepering  will  be 
done  for  him  gratis,  and  his  expenses  for 
management  may  well  be  covered  by  a 
ten  pound  note  in  the  year.  Off  this 
land  he  might  quite  easily  kill  100  brace 
in  the  season,  the  market  value  of  which 
would  be  about  £10 ;  he  would  probably 
kill    other   game — odd   pheasants,   hares, 


212  PARTRIDGES 

and  rabbits — to  the  value  of  fifty  shillings, 
making  his  net  outlay  £lO  for  the  year, 
irrespective  of  the  cost  of  a  game  licence 
and  his  cartridge  bill.  This  is  (j[uite  a 
realizable  estimate,  but  even  were  it 
doubled,  our  friend  would  get  some 
twenty  enjoyable  little  days  in  the  season 
at  £l  a  day,  a  very  reasonable  figure  when 
compared  with  the  expenses  of  other 
forms  of  sport. 

Of  course,  to  be  successful  on  so  small 
a  scale,  the  active  goodwill  of  the  farmers 
is  essential ;  for  if  they  be  so  disposed, 
they  can  keep  a  good  watch  over  the 
ground  while  going  about  the  ordinary 
routine  of  their  business.  Some  of  the 
labourers  must  be  subsidized  to  keep  the 
vermin  down  and  care  for  the  nests  in 
spring,  their  efforts  being  best  recognized 
by  a  system  of  paying  for  results,  which, 
in  the  inevitable  absence  of  constant 
supervision,  ensures  some  attention  being 
given  to  the  interests  of  the  slioot.  Nor 
has  the  tenant  of  such  a  shooting  any  real 
cause  to  envy  more  fortunate  people  whose 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    213 

sport  is  made  easier  for  them.  As  he 
stretches  his  pleasantly  wearied  limbs  to 
the  fire,  after  a  long  and  healthy  day  in 
the  fresh  country  air,  and  recalls  every 
shot,  every  manoeuvre  that  went  to  make 
the  bag  of  5  or  6  brace  of  partridges  with 
sundries  enough  to  complete  the  20  head, 
he  is  tasting  to  the  full  such  pleasure  as 
sport  can  afford ;  nor  does  the  crack  shot 
who  has  killed  his  40  birds  in  one  drive 
experience  one  whit  more  satisfaction. 
Only  let  him  rest  content  with  what  he 
has  ;  to  dabble  in  big  days  may  well  breed 
discontent  with  the  humbler  results  which 
formerly  pleased  him  so  well. 

Certainly  every  novice  should  be 
trained  to  hunt  and  kill  his  game  for 
himself  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  shooting 
career.  Just  as  a  guardian  should  be 
averse  to  giving  a  young  fellow  £10,000 
a  year  to  play  with,  however  well  the 
state  of  his  finances  might  seem  to 
warrant  it,  so  in  the  world  of  sport  I 
feel  convinced  that  it  is  a  grievous  error 
to  allow  any  one  still  in  his  teens  to  take 


214  PARTRIDGES 

his  place  among  his  elders  and  sample  the 
easily- won  results  of  what  journalists  term 
the  *  modern  battue,'  without  first  serving 
his  apprenticeship  with  the  gun,  learning 
how  to  rely  on  himself  in  the  field,  and 
not  always  to  expect  everything,  except 
pulling  the  trigger,  to  be  done  for  him 
by  others  as  a  matter  of  course.  To  feel 
that  success  or  failure  rests  entirely  with 
yourself,  that  you  must  work  hard  and 
use  your  wits  to  some  purpose  if  you 
would  realize  but  a  modest  total  at  the 
end  of  the  day,  develops  in  time  a  faculty 
for  close  and  accurate  observation  which 
nothing  else  can  give. 

To  the  possessor  of  this  faculty  each 
day's  shooting  is  a  new  lesson ;  he  is  for 
ever  makhig  mental  notes  for  future  use 
— at  first  perhaps  consciously,  but  soon 
intuitively,  till  at  last  he  comes  to  have 
something  akin  with  the  wild  hunting 
animal,  knowing  without  knowing  why 
he  knows,  and  failing  to  understand  how 
others  can  miss  seeing  what  to  him  is  so 
obvious.     Turn   such  a  man   loose  in   a 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    215 

strange  part  of  the  country,  and  you  will 
be  amazed  to  see  how  quickly  he  will  find 
his  bearings,  how  naturally  he  will  spot 
the  likely  places  for  a  head  of  game.  You 
would  scarcely  believe  that  he  had  never 
seen  the  place  before ;  yet  there  is 
nothing  really  wonderful  about  his  per- 
formance, only  he  knows  something  of  the 
habits  of  beasts  and  birds,  and  attaches  a 
meaning  to  all  the  simple  little  details 
which  pass  unnoticed  by  the  unobservant. 
In  the  ordered  sequence  of  a  regular 
'shoot,'  the  working  of  this  faculty  is 
not  so  evident ;  only  the  good  shot — as 
one  would  like  to  call  him,  though  the 
term  has  of  late  been  limited  in  common 
parlance  to  imply  mere  accuracy  with  the 
gun  —  seems  always  to  be  getting  more 
than  his  fair  share  of  the  shooting. 
When  you  hear  it  commonly  said  of 
any  one,  "  Oh,  X  is  an  extraordinarily 
lucky  fellow,  the  birds  always  go  to  him," 
you  may  rest  assured  that  the  true  reason 
lies  less  in  chance  than  in  a  keen  apprecia- 
tion of  opportunity. 


216  PARTRIDGES 

There  seem  to  be  only  two  methods 
of  shooting  the  partridge  practised  to 
any  extent  at  the  present  time — driving, 
which  is  almost  exclusively  employed 
whenever  the  shooting  is  organized  on 
anything  like  a  large  scale,  and  marauding 
with  two  or  at  most  three  guns  and  as 
many  retainers  when  the  material  for 
driving  is  not  available. 

Occasionally,  but  only  very  occasion- 
ally now — so  much  have  things  altered 
in  the  last  ten  years — you  may  still  meet 
with  the  long  ordered  line  of  guns, 
keepers,  and  beaters  manoeuvring  about 
the  country  in  the  orthodox  manner  of 
other  days.  But  'walking  in  line'  is 
nearly  extinct,  and  surely  few  can  be 
found  to  regret  its  disappearance.  For 
what  a  dull  performance  it  was  at  the 
best ;  easy  of  accomplishment,  it  is  true, 
demanding  little  of  the  ingenuity  and 
resource  which  make  the  successful 
conduct  of  a  day's  driving  almost  as 
much  fun  without  a  gun  as  with  one. 
But  the  shooting  was  a  clumsy  business. 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    217 

and  the  endless  repetition  of  the  same 
end-on  shot  compared  but  poorly  with 
the  almost  infinite  variety  of  pace,  angle, 
and  curl  that  driven  birds  offer. 

Early  in  the  season  the  birds  lay 
close,  and  there  was  little  or  no  excuse 
for  ever  missing,  and  consequently  as 
little  pleasure  in  killing ;  later  in  the 
year  when  the  cover  was  down,  the  birds 
rose  wild,  and  were  only  difficult  to  kill 
because  they  were  at  the  limit  of  killing 
range,  and  should  not  have  been  fired  at 
at  all.  And  the  dreary  monotony  of  the 
interminable  turnip-field  in  which  you 
solemnly  wheeled,  marched,  counter- 
marched, and  wheeled  again  for  half  the 
livelong  day  1  As  soon  as  you  had 
finished  one  half  of  the  field  and  passed 
on  to  the  other,  fresh  birds  were  driven 
on  to  the  old  ground,  and  you  had  to 
retrace  your  footsteps  and  start  the  same 
old  evolutions  all  over  again,  till  at  length 
it  was  with  a  heart-felt  sigh  of  relief  that 
you  stumbled  over  the  last  turnip  by  the 
gateway  and  left  the  field  you  devoutly 


218  PARTRIDGES 

hoped  never  to  see  again.  For  this 
form  of  shooting  combined  all  the  dis- 
advantages incident  to  any  formal 
shooting  with  an  absence  of  any  of  its 
counterbalancing  advantages.  On  all, 
so  to  speak,  official  days  there  is  bound 
to  be  some  feeling  of  constraint  in  the 
air ;  your  host  is  at  least  preoccupied  if 
not  actively  worried ;  the  head -keeper — 
an  old  acquaintance — has  scarce  leisure 
to  greet  you,  for  he  bears  a  heavy  burden 
of  responsibility ;  even  your  fellow-guns 
take  the  business  somewhat  seriously. 
On  the  bye  day  the  trammels  of  dis- 
cipline are  relaxed  ;  every  one  is  at  his 
ease,  and  though  hard  work  and  not 
loafing  is  still  the  order  of  the  day,  there 
is  a  happy  feeling  that  it  does  not  really 
matter  if  things  do  go  wrong.  In  driving 
you  look  to  the  constant  test  of  your  skill 
as  a  marksman  and  the  pleasure  of  seeing 
birds  artfully  handled  to  more  than 
compensate  you  for  any  loss  of  individual 
freedom. 

Such,  at  least,  were   the  writer's  im- 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    219 

pressions  of  walking   partridges   in    line, 
once  the  age  was  past  when  to    carry  a 
gun    in  the  field  at  all  was  a  pure  joy  ; 
his  sympathies  were  all  with  the  gentle- 
man   who    was     overheard     to     remark 
wearily    to    himself^    as    the    party   was 
leaving   a   perfect   sea   of  turnips,  where 
birds    had  been   scarce  and  the   'shaws' 
soaking  wet  and  near  waist  high — "  Well, 
I've   read   that    every   star    differ eth    in 
glory,  but  I'm  d — d  if  each  turnip  does." 
The  methods  of  walking  partridges  in 
line  call  for  little  comment ;  the  general 
principle  is  to  collect  the  birds  into  good 
cover  —  usually    turnips  —   by     detached 
parties  scouring  the  surrounding  country, 
and    walk    the    field    up    and    down    in 
narrow   beats,   either   swinging   the    line 
right  round  when   within   wheeling   dis- 
tance of  the  fence,  or  else  walking   the 
field  right  out  and  filing  along  the  fence 
to  take  ground  for  the  next  beat.     The 
latter  is  the  best  plan,  for  many  birds  run 
on  to  the  edge  of  the  turnips  and  squat 
there  till  the  line   is  close   on  to  them, 


220  PARTRIDGES 

fearing  to  cross  the  open  headland.  If 
it  seems  very  desirable  to  push  all  the 
birds  on  in  one  direction,  all  the  beats 
must  be  taken  the  same  way,  the  party 
retracing  their  footsteps  in  file  over  the 
old  ground  between  each  beat. 

The  line  should  always  walk  across 
the  drills,  and  include  a  little  of  the  last 
beat  in  each  new  beat,  for  birds  often 
run  back  on  to  the  old  ground.  On  the 
outer  flank,  which  is  moving  over  com- 
pletely new  ground,  the  gun  should  be 
on  the  outside,  while  on  the  inner  flank 
one  or  two  beaters  should  be  '  making 
good'  the  edge  of  the  last  beat,  outside 
the  flank  gun. 

The  line  must  often  be  slanted  at  an 
angle  to  suit  the  wind  or  the  proximity 
of  a  boundary  fence.  The  party  must 
be  well  drilled,  and  the  intervals  and 
line  preserved  throughout  the  evolutions, 
the  guns  walking  a  pace  or  so  in  front  of 
the  line  of  beaters,  and  about  50  yards 
apart. 

Picking    up    is    a    difficulty,    and    it 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    221 

simplifies  matters  considerably  if  the 
beaters  on  either  side  of  a  gun  are  taught 
to  mark  alternate  birds  as  they  are  shot 
and  put  in  a  thin  stick,  carried  for  the 
purpose,  to  mark  the  exact  fall  of  each 
bird,  as  the  line  comes  up  to  the  place. 
The  line  should  never  stand  for  long, 
but  should  move  on,  leaving  any  birds 
not  picked  at  once  to  be  dealt  with  by 
the  dog-man — by  which  is  meant  a  keeper 
whose  sole  duties  for  the  day  are  picking 
up,  having  no  concern  with  the  beaters 
or  the^shooting — a  most  valuable  adjunct, 
for  have  we  not  all  kicked  our  heels  for 
half  an  hour  in  the  middle  of  a  beat 
while  the  head-keeper's  young  retriever 
had  an  ill-timed  lesson  in  the  difference 
between  a  runner  and  a  rabbit  ?  Some 
system  in  picking  up  there  must  be,  or 
much  loss  both  of  dead  birds  and  of 
valuable  time  will  inevitably  result. 

The  pace  set  for  the  line  must  be 
varied  to  suit  the  occasion ;  in  good 
cover  it  cannot  well  be  too  slow,  but 
late  in   the  season,  when  birds  are  wild 


222  PARTRIDGES 

and  cover  scanty,  the  line  must  needs 
move  at  a  fair  round  pace  to  get  any- 
where near  tlie  birds.  At  all  times — as 
the  military  text-books  lay  down  for  the 
movements  of  all  composite  bodies — the 
pace  of  the  whole  is  regulated  by  that 
of  the  slowest  unit,  and  weight  and  age 
must  be  treated  with  some  consideration 
in  this  respect. 

'  Half-mooning '  is  a  pleasing  varia- 
tion of  walking  in  line,  demanding  more 
skill  in  execution,  both  from  guns  and 
beaters,  to  make  it  a  success.  It  is  a 
manoeuvre  best  suited  for  a  country 
where  large  fields  are  the  rule ;  and  can 
be  used  to  advantage  in  walking  up 
heaths,  commons,  or  any  stretches  of 
rough  and  uncultivated  land.  Where 
fields  are  small  it  is  no  easy  matter  to 
keep  the  proper  formation,  though  this 
difficulty  may  be  overcome  to  some 
extent  by  giving  the  beaters  flags  on 
long  poles,  so  that  they  remain  visible  to 
each  other  even  when  a  thick  hedge 
intervenes. 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    223 

This  is  a  capital  way  to  outwit  birds 
late  in  the  season,  for  though  they  would 
not  allow  an  ordinary  line  to  get  within 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  them,  they  will 
still  lie  like  stones  when  once  they  feel 
that  they  are  surrounded.  The  *  half- 
moon  '  is  also  a  very  useful  expedient  to 
fall  back  upon  when  a  high  wind  makes 
successful  driving  near  impossible ;  the 
guns  shoot  all  the  better  for  being  on 
the  move  instead  of  shivering  behind  a 
hedge,  and  every  bird  flushed  will  give 
a  sporting  and  difficult  chance  to  some  one 
as  it  swings  back  with  the  wind.  To 
'  half-moon '  a  large  field  the  line  first 
deploys  down  the  narrow  end,  covering 
the  whole  width  of  it.  When  all  are 
in  position,  a  signal  is  given  from  the 
centre  of  the  line,  and  the  two  flank  guns 
start  walking  down  the  outside  fences, 
followed  at  regular  intervals  of  10  yards 
or  so  by  each  successive  pair  of  beaters 
or  guns  in  turn,  the  centre  gun  moving 
off*  last  of  all,  when  the  half-circle  is 
complete.     The   birds   that   rise  wild  as 


224  PARTRIDGES 

the  centre  advances  are  dealt  with  by  the 
forward  guns  on  the  flanks,  while  the 
centre  guns  —  although  they  naturally 
cannot  shoot  at  birds  rising  in  front  of 
them — get  some  very  prett^^  shooting  at 
birds  breaking  back  from  the  horns  of 
the  crescent. 

Whether  undertaken  on  a  large  or 
a  small  scale — and  the  numbers  engaged 
may  be  anything  from  six  to  sixty — the 
beaters  must  always  be  thoroughly  drilled, 
and  the  guns  such  as  may  be  absolutely 
relied  on  never  to  fire  a  dangerous  shot 
under  any  circumstances,  if  the  manoeuvre 
is  to  be  carried  out  both  with  success 
and  safety. 

Five  minutes'  explanation  with  a  pencil 
and  half  a  sheet  of  paper  will  show  any 
but  the  stupidest  of  beaters  the  part  he 
has  to  play.  Without  some  such  pre- 
caution, if  the  men  do  not  understand 
clearly  what  is  wanted  of  them,  the 
whole  performance  rapidly  degenerates 
into  farce,  which  the  presence  of  a  gun 
who  is  at  all  likely  to  lose  his  head  in 


f.. 


Towered."' 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    225 

the  heat  of  action  may  easily  turn  into 
tragedy. 

The  one  disadvantage  of  this  method, 
apart  from  the  care  in  execution  it  entails, 
is  that  the  birds  cannot  be  pushed  on  in 
the  direction  that  they  are  wanted  to 
go  with  any  certainty,  for  it  may  well 
happen  that  as  many  will  squat  and 
eventually  go  back  as  will  rise  wild  and 
go  forward. 

In  the  good  old  days  when  turnips  were 
sown  broadcast,  when  hedges  were  rough 
and  tangled,  and  the  sickle  left  the  stubble 
knee-deep  after  harvest,  the  pointer  or  the 
setter  was  an  inevitable  accompaniment 
of  partridge-shooting.  The  trim  hedge- 
rows and  close-shorn  stubbles  of  modern 
farming  give  no  scope  for  shooting  over 
dogs  on  the  manors  of  the  south,  yet 
nothing  but  the  fact  that  they  have  gone 
out  of  fashion — reason  enough  for  nine- 
tenths  of  the  imitative  human  race — 
prevents  the  profitable  employment  of 
dogs  in  many  a  wilder  country  where 
good  holding  cover  is  always  plentiful. 

15 


226  PARTRIDGES 

Even  without  keeping  a  regular  kennel 
and  following  this  beautiful  sport  in  ortho- 
dox manner,  most  owners  of  partridge- 
shooting  would  still  find  a  steady  pointer 
a  useful  addition  to  their  kennels.  On 
big  days  the  dog  would  not  be  of  very 
much  use,  though  even  then  one  cannot 
see  why  he  should  not  be  employed  to 
save  the  beaters  from  walking  over  birds 
in  thick  cover;  while  on  all  'marauding' 
days,  when  two  or  three  guns  and  as 
many  keepers  constitute  the  whole  party, 
the  presence  of  a  good  dog  makes  the 
work  very  much  easier,  provided  that 
the  coveys  are  not  unduly  wild.  Perhaps 
a  single  covey  is  flushed  and  marked 
down  in  a  big  turnip-field  late  in  the 
afternoon ;  there  is  not  likely  to  be 
another  bird  there,  for  they  will  all  be 
out  on  the  stubbles.  The  dog  would 
find  this  covey  in  a  few  minutes,  whereas, 
wanting  his  assistance,  the  little  party 
of  humans  must  needs  waste  half  an 
hour  or  more  tramping  up  and  down  the 
field,  before  the  birds  are  at  last  flushed 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    227 

— if  they  are  ever  flushed  at  all,  which 
is  by  no  means  certain,  for  so  small  a 
party  covers  a  narrow  front,  round  which 
there  is  plenty  of  room  for  the  birds  to 
run  and  get  left  behind. 

The  best  stamp  of  dog  for  the  work 
is  not  the  stylish  high-bred  dog  who  dashes 
off  at  a  rare  pace  and  knocks  up  after  an 
hour's  work ;  a  less  showy  dog  is  often 
better  for  the  purpose,  chosen  not  so 
much  for  his  looks  as  for  the  points 
that  bespeak  good  stamina — a  dog  well 
proportioned,  light  and  strong  for  his 
size,  with  good  shoulders  and  powerful 
legs.  Apart  from  his  staying  powers, 
the  pointer  or  setter  should  have  a  good 
nose  and  be  well  under  control,  and  if  he 
is  taught  to  retrieve,  so  much  the  better. 
Such  a, dog  will  still  be  found  to  earn  his 
keep  well  on  most  partridge  estates. 

While  pointers  and  setters  may  still 
play  an  important  part  on  bye  days,  to 
the  retriever  there  must  always  fall  the 
lion's  share  of  work  in  partridge-shooting 
under    modern    conditions.      For    many 


228  PARTRIDGES 

years  the  poor  quality  of  the  work  done 
by  retrievers  in  the  field  was  a  common 
cause  of  complaint  in  the  shooting  world. 
In  this  respect,  it  is  very  satisfactory  to 
be  able  to  record  a  marked  advance  of 
late  years.  This  improvement  is,  without 
doubt,  due  to  the  beneficial  influence 
exercised  by  the  various  Field  Trials 
Associations.  Field  trials  are  often  the 
subject  of  severe  criticism  ;  their  advan- 
tages to  sportsmen  in  general  are  often 
questioned,  and  it  is  pointed  out  that  the 
education  of  a  dog  for  ordinary  sporting 
purposes  has  little  in  common  with  the 
special  training  which  results  in  a  win  at 
the  trials.  This  is  probably  to  a  certain 
extent  true,  under  the  keen  competition 
that  now  prevails,  but  after  all  it  really 
matters  but  little  whether  the  individual 
field  trial  winner  may  or  may  not  be  a 
useful  dog  for  practical  purposes ;  the 
fact  remains  that  the  trials  annually  held 
all  over  the  country  have  certainly 
been  instrumental  in  raising  the  general 
standard  of  retrievers'  work. 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    229 

Most  keepers  now  get  the  chance  of 
watching  the  highly  finished  perform- 
ances of  champion  dogs  at  the  trials,  and 
thus  come  to  realize  that  the  retriever  is 
not  such  a  fool  after  all,  and  that  with 
care  and  method  in  breaking,  the  normal 
puppy  will  develop  into  a  creature  of 
surprising  intelligence. 

Dog-breaking  is  not  really  a  difficult 
art,  only  it  calls  for  more  than  the  casual 
kicks  and  kindness  which  is  all  some  can 
find  time  to  bestow  on  their  dogs.  In 
training  a  retriever,  the  first  essential  is 
good  treatment ;  the  dog  soon  knows 
that  his  wants  are  well  cared  for,  and  the 
beginning  of  a  good  understanding  is 
thus  established.  Then  the  trainer  must 
instil  the  principles  of  implicit  obedience  ; 
the  dog  must  understand  that  he  has 
found  his  master ;  not  the  master —  in- 
comprehensible to  the  canine  mind — who 
at  one  time  allows  disobedience  to  pass 
unchecked,  and  at  another  inflicts  condign 
punishment  for  the  same  mistake,  but  one 
who  gently  but  firmly  corrects  each  fault. 


230  PARTRIDGES 

After  that  it  is  mainly  a  question  of 
patience  and  attention  on  the  part  of  the 
trainer ;  most  dogs  are  eager  and  keen  to 
learn  their  work  if  only  their  master  is 
consistent  in  his  behaviour.  In  this  con- 
sistency lies  the  whole  secret  of  success. 
You  are  angry — the  dog  knows  he  has 
done  wrong ;  you  are  pleased — the  dog 
understands  that  he  has  done  well ;  but 
if  you  appear  angry  because  your  liver  is 
out  of  order,  or  pleased  for  some  reason 
no  more  connected  with  the  business  in 
hand,  the  dog  gives  up  trying  to  under- 
stand you  as  a  bad  job,  and  another 
*  useless  brute '  has  been  created  through 
no  fault  of  his  own.  Throughout  a  dog's 
education,  kindness  should  always  be  the 
rule,  correction  the  exception.  Before 
using  the  whip,  pause  to  ask  yourself — 
**  Does  the  dog  clearly  realize  why  he  is 
being  beaten  ? "  If  you  do  not  feel  sure 
of  this,  put  the  whip  away ;  for  such 
chastisement  can  only  do  harm  and  in- 
duce a  stubborn  disposition.  Should  you 
ever  beat  a  dog  to  ease  your  own  feelings, 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    231 

and  not  with  any  view  to  his  improvement 
— an  event  of  far  too  common  occurrence 
— you  are  distinctly  not  fit  to  have  a  dog 
at  all. 

The  shooting  season  is  not  the  time 
to  train  dogs ;  if  the  keeper  has  been  at 
the  pains  to  handle  his  young  dog  for 
even  half  an  hour  a  day  through  spring 
and  summer,  working  away  quite  quietly 
with  an  old  glove  or  a  handkerchief,  when 
the  autumn  comes  the  dog  will  be  ready 
to  step  straight  into  his  proper  place  as  a 
useful  and  trustworthy  member  of  the 
shooting  party. 

Personally  I  must  confess  to  having  a 
strong  aversion  to  shooting  partridges 
under  a  kite  at  any  time  ;  it  somehow 
seems  that  one  is  taking  an  unfair  advan- 
tage in  enlisting  such  adventitious  aid  to 
one's  own  efforts.  When  birds  must  be 
had  for  the  pot — and  it  is  then  that  the 
use  of  the  kite  is  often  recommended — 
they  are  surely  never  so  wild  that  a  few 
brace  cannot  be  got  by  some  happy  com- 
bination of  driving,  walking,  and  stalking. 


232  PARTRIDGES 

I  can  well  remember  sending  out  a 
friend  on  my  own  ground  to  try  and  get 
a  brace  or  so  for  the  house  on  a  short 
winter's  day.  The  fields  were  bare,  the 
partridges  very  wild  and  not  over-plenti- 
ful;  yet  by  means  of  some  very  clever 
work  by  my  friend,  who  was  young, 
active,  and  a  born  poacher,  the  keeper, 
who  was  always  full  of  resource  on  a 
*  mooching '  day,  and  the  old  retriever, 
who  would  drive  a  turnip-field  as  well  as 
half-a-dozen  beaters,  no  less  than  17  brace 
of  partridges  found  their  way  into  the  bag 
before  the  end  of  the  day. 

As  in  every  other  form  of  shooting, 
little  advice  of  any  real  practical  value 
about  shooting  the  partridge  can  be  given 
on  paper,  which  will  assist  the  beginner  to 
hold  his  own  in  the  field.  Every  one  can 
learn,  if  he  will,  to  be  a  good  sportsman 
— much  misused  word — even  if  he  cannot 
always  learn  to  be  a  good  shot,  and  the 
standard  of  modern  shooting  is  somewhat 
exacting.  Much  may  be  learnt  about 
shooting  at  any  of  the  shooting  schools 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    233 

which  abound  round  London  —  marks- 
manship ;  much  may  be  picked  up  by 
having  to  work  hard  with  a  good  keeper 
for  a  small  bag — woodcraft  ;  and  many 
hints  may  be  taken  by  watching  good 
performers  at  work  in  the  field — form. 
The  good  sportsman — as  we  understand 
the  word — should  not  only  possess  some 
modicum  of  these  three  qualities,  marks- 
manship, woodcraft  and  good  form,  but 
he  should  in  addition  have  learnt  to  be 
master  of  himself  at  all  times,  cheerful 
when  things  go  wrong,  making  the  best 
of  rough  and  smooth,  and  always  doing 
what  he  can  to  make  the  day  a  success. 
We  are  all  apt  to  grumble  too  much  if 
things  are  not  exactly  to  our  liking, 
forgetting  that  *  grousing'  is  not  among 
the  best  traditions  of  British  sport — as 
fine  a  code  of  honour  as  ever  man 
devised. 

The  last  few  years  have  seen  consider- 
able changes  in  the  standard  patterns  of 
our  sporting  guns.  The  modern  nitro 
powders    are    almost    entirely   consumed 


234  PARTRIDGES 

in  the  chamber,  and  the  strength  of  the 
guns  that  are  turned  out  now  lies  in  the 
action  and  the  breech,  not  some  8 
inches  down  the  barrels  as  was  formerly 
the  case.  For  the  same  reason  long 
barrels  are  no  longer  necessary  to  ensure 
a  good  pattern,  and  the  tendency  now  is 
to  shorten  the  barrels  to  28  inches  to 
get  a  better  balance.  Improved  steel 
barrels  have  superseded  the  Damascus, 
and  are  now  the  best  and  safest  to  use. 
For  some  reason  almost  all  *  best  quality  ' 
guns  are  now  fitted  with  *  side- locks ' ; 
though  *box  locks'  are  simpler  in  con- 
struction, and  give  a  much  pleasanter  grip 
to  the  gun.  There  can  be  but  one  word 
of  advice  to  any  one  who  would  buy  a 
gun — pay  a  good  price  for  a  good  article, 
and  take  care  of  it  when  you  have  got  it. 
Cheap  guns  and  cheap  cartridges  are  not 
economical  in  the  long-run,  and  the  work 
of  our  leading  gunmakers  well  repays  its 
initial  cost  when  tested  by  the  wear  and 
tear  of  years. 

It  remains  an  open  question  whether 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    235 

it  is  more  difficult  to  be  a  good  shot  at 
driven  partridges  than  it  was  in  the  days 
of  walking  and  shooting  over  dogs.  So 
far  as  actual  marksmanship  is  concerned, 
there  can  be  no  comparison,  for  the 
driven  bird  offers  far  more  variety  of 
pace,  angle,  and  curve,  and  can  at  times 
be  as  difficult  a  mark  as  is  ever  presented 
to  the  gun.  On  the  other  hand,  things 
are  made  very  easy  for  the  shooter,  the 
art  of  killing  the  normal  driven  bird  with 
fair  certainty  is  largely  a  question  of 
practice,  while  any  one  may  sometimes 
find  the  simplest  bird  very  easy  to  miss 
after  tramping  over  anything  between  ten 
and  twenty  miles  of  turnips  on  a  hot  day 
in  September. 

So  far  as  the  actual  difficulties  of 
realizing  every  chance  throughout  the 
day  are  in  question,  there  is  in  all  prob- 
ability very  little  to  choose  one  way 
or  the  other.  Yet,  while  there  is  small 
satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  missing 
an  easy  chance  because  your  foot  is 
balanced  on  a  turnip,  or  weariness  makes 


236  PARTRIDGES 

the  gun  slow  in  coming  up,  there  are 
driven  birds — swinging  and  curling  with 
the  wind — which  are  quite  a  pleasure  to 
miss  to  the  ordinary  performer. 

There  is  one  hint  about  shooting 
which  some  may  find  worth  considering 
as  an  aid  to  accuracy.  You  cannot  point 
anything  so  true  on  an  object  as  the 
extended  forefinger  ;  if  you  find  it  difficult 
to  bring  the  gun  up  right  on  the  mark, 
try  shooting  with  the  forefinger  of  the 
left  hand  extended  down  the  groove  of 
the  rib  below  the  barrels.  It  feels  a 
little  awkward  at  first,  but  you  will  soon 
get  used  to  it ;  and  while  it  in  no  way 
interferes  with  free  and  quick  movement, 
at  the  same  time  it  certainly  helps  to 
point  the  gun  true  without  conscious 
aiming. 

In  conclusion,  some  mention  must  be 
made  of  the  practice  of  'tipping.'  The 
custom  of  *  vails'  is  of  immemorial 
standing,  and  we  must  submit  to  it 
with  a  good  grace.  Till  very  lately  it 
was  the  common  practice  to  give  a  large 


PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING    237 

gratuity  after  a  pheasant  shoot,  and  base 
your  donation  on  a  nnuch  smaller  scale 
after  a  day  with  the  partridges.  This 
was  doubtless  connected  with  the  old 
idea  that  partridges  required  little  atten- 
tion ;  but  as  under  modern  conditions  it 
takes  just  as  much  time  and  trouble  to 
look  after  partridge  ground  properly  as 
it  does  to  rear  pheasants,  it  is  to  be  hoped 
that  sportsmen  will  be  more  impartial  in 
their  recognition  of  the  man  who  pro- 
vides their  sport. 

The  practice  of  tipping  by  results  is 
almost  universal,  though,  personally,  I 
can  see  little  justice  in  it.  I  would 
always  rather  use  my  own  judgment  as 
to  whether  the  keeper  has  done  his  best 
with  the  means  at  his  disposal  and  give 
accordingly,  without  considering  whether 
the  bag  is  100  brace  or  500. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  amiss 
to  remind  those  who  find  their  pleasure 
in   shooting   that   there   is   a  society^  in 

1  The  Keepers'   Benefit   Society,  236   Regent   Street, 
London,  W.     Secretary,  Mr.  William  W^hitmore. 


238  PARTRIDGES 

existence  for  providing  for  the  widows 
and  families  of  gamekeepers  who  lose 
their  lives  in  the  protection  of  game,  and 
for  pensioning  keepers  who  are  no  longer 
fit  for  work  on  account  of  old  age  or 
accident.  The  Keepers'  Benefit  Society 
is  under  the  patronage  of  His  Majesty 
the  King,  and  many  prominent  sports- 
men figure  on  the  committee. 

Such  a  deserving  object  should  surely 
enlist  the  ready  sympathy  of  sportsmen, 
and  if  only  all  who  took  out  a  game 
licence  would  subscribe  even  half-a-crown 
to  the  funds  of  the  Society,  the  scope 
of  its  beneficial  work  would  be  vastly 
increased. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

DRIVING 

The  broad  rules  which  govern  successful  driving  —  The 
difficulties  which  arise  in  their  application^  and  how 
they  can  be  overcome — Beaters,  flankers,  and  guns, 
their  right  disposition  and  duties — The  cost  of 
driving. 

"...  the  *  guns  ^  being  stationed  in  more  or  less 
concealment  at  one  end  of  the  field,  .  .  .  which  is 
entered  from  the  other  by  men  or  boys  who  deploy 
into  line  and  walk  across  it  making  a  noise." 

Thus  the  Encyclopcedia  Britannica 
(Ninth  Edition)  on  the  subject  of  partridge- 
driving,  and  the  operation  sounds  as  simple 
as  anything  well  can  be  ;  but  that  this  ease 
of  execution  is  more  apparent  than  real  let 
any  one  bear  witness  who  has  ever  tried 
to  drive  partridges  on  virgin  soil,  and  is 
hardly  likely  to  have  forgotten  the  diffi- 
culties and  disappointments  attendant  on 

239 


240  PARTRIDGES 

his  initial  efforts.  To  drive  partridges 
as  they  should  be  driven  is  a  high  art, 
of  which  there  are  in  all  probability  not 
more  than  a  score  of  masters  in  this 
country  who  join  to  natural  aptitude 
and  long  experience  that  infinite  capacity 
for  taking  pains  which  alone  can  bring 
performance  within  measurable  distance 
of  perfection. 

To  drive  partridges  well  enough  for 
all  practical  purposes  is  within  the  reach 
of  any  man  of  average  intelligence  and 
energy  if  he  be  willing  to  take  it  up  in 
a  business-like  manner. 

Partridge-driving  seems  to  have  begun 
in  a  very  small  way  about  the  middle  of 
last  century  on  Suffolk  manors.  Here 
certain  sportsmen,  no  longer  on  the  sunny 
side  of  fifty,  found  toiling  all  day  after  the 
evasive  Frenchman  a  doubtful  pleasure, 
and  tried  resting  their  weary  limbs  under 
a  fence  while  the  keepers  walked  round 
and  brought  the  birds  up  to  them.  The 
idea  once  started  soon  spread  through 
Suffolk,  the  great  stronghold  of  the  red- 


Retrievi'K  on  W'oi  ndhd  Bird. 


DRIVING  241 

leg,  but  was  pooh  -  poohed  by  all  the 
wiseacres  in  the  neighbouring  county 
of  Norfolk,  where  the  leading  lights  of 
the  shooting  world  continued  to  walk 
their  birds  in  line,  long  after  driving  was 
a  common  practice  across  their  borders. 

At  first  the  guns  used  to  stand  under 
the  hedge  with  their  backs  to  the  drive, 
and  shoot  at  the  birds  only  after  they 
had  passed ;  this  made  shooting  very 
awkward  (as  any  one  knows  who  has 
had  occasion  to  try  it  through  the 
exigencies  of  the  line  compelling  him 
to  stand  right  up  to  a  fence  which  he 
could  neither  see  over  or  through),  and 
the  chief  objection  urged  against  driving 
was  the  difficulty  of  hitting  the  birds. 
Then  some  one  discovered  how  far  easier 
and  more  effective  it  was  to  face  the 
drive,  take  what  birds  he  could  coming 
towards  him  and  swing  round  after  the 
others,  and  the  better  results  thus  obtained 
gradually  led  to  a  general  adoption  of 
the  new  system. 

In  considering  partridge-driving,  some 

16 


242  PARTRIDGES 

comparison  with  the  sister  sport  of  grouse- 
driving   is   inevitable.     So   far   as   direct 
benefit  to  the  ground   is   concerned,  the 
comparison  is  somewhat  unfavourable  to 
the  partridge,  for  while  driving  on  a  moor 
is  beyond  all  doubt  wholly  beneficial  to 
the   stock   and    is   often   attended   by   a 
truly  marvellous   increase  in  the  annual 
yield,  no   such   striking   results  must  be 
expected    on    partridge    ground    as    the 
direct  outcome  of  the  adoption  of  driving. 
In  the  former  case  driving  removes  from 
the  moor  numbers  of  old  cocks  and  barren 
hens,  as  destructive  as  the  worst  vermin, 
and   never  even  seen  by  the  guns  when 
walking    or   shooting   over   dogs ;  in   the 
latter  instance,  while  some  good  must  be 
done  by  killing  old  birds,  it  is  not  certain 
to  what  extent  this  influence  affects  the 
stock.     It  is  true  that  the  yearly  totals 
killed  at  Holkham  advanced  from  3000 
to  8000  within  ten  years  of  the  adoption 
of  driving — true,  and   somewhat  difficult 
to   explain ;    indeed    to    determine   with 
any  certainty    how   far   driving    may    be 


DRIVING  243 

regarded  as  a  factor  in  improvement,  it 
would  be  necessary  to  have  access  to 
the  records  of  two  estates,  the  one 
regularly  driven  and  the  other  walked  in 
line  or  shot  over  dogs,  but  both  under 
the  higher  methods  of  preservation 
(which  may  be  roughly  taken  to  mean 
that  the  whole  work  is  carried  out  on  a 
system,  the  nesting  operations  supervised, 
assisted,  and  regulated,  and  change  of 
blood  constantly  effected).  Comparison 
between  these  records  would  place  the 
matter  beyond  doubt,  but  there  seems  to 
be  no  estate  fulfilling  these  conditions 
on  which  driving  is  not  the  rule.  Only 
a  word  of  warning  in  this  context :  some 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  say  that  the 
Holkham  totals  **  settle  for  ever  the 
question  as  to  the  effect  of  driving  upon 
the  totals  of  a  partridge  manor " ;  ^  the 
immeasurable  good  that  can  be  wrought 
by  systematic  preservation  is  beyond 
all  doubt,  but  for  any  to  expect  the 
adoption    of   driving    in    itself   to    work 

^  The  Partridge,  Fur  and  Feather  Series,  p.  218. 


244  PARTRIDGES 

wonders  on  their  ground  is  to  court 
disappointment. 

There  is  a  fallacious  theory  that  driv- 
ing brings  about  a  change  of  blood 
among  partridges.  For  *  partridges ' 
read  *  grouse '  and  the  theory  can  be 
accepted  as  fact,  for  grouse  have  not 
the  homing  instinct  so  strongly  developed, 
and  doubtless  to  some  extent  stay  where 
the  end  of  a  day's  driving  finds  them  ; 
but  the  partridge,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
peculiarly  local  in  its  habits,  and  the 
same  covey,  or  its  shattered  fragments, 
will  after  many  drives  always  be  found 
back  on  their  own  ground.  A  good 
way  to  kill  off  the  old  stock  and  retain 
the  young  is  to  drive  early  in  the  season 
on  a  hot  day.  After  they  have  been 
hustled  about  a  bit  the  young  birds  will 
not  rise,  and  then  practically  all  the 
birds  that  go  over  the  guns  will  be  old 
ones  that  the  ground  is  better  without. 

In  some  respects  it  is  easier  to  drive 
grouse  than  partridges.  On  a  moor,  when 
the  right  way  of  taking  a  drive  has  once 


DRIVING  245 

been  discovered,  the  problem  is  finally 
settled  ;  permanent  butts  are  erected,  and 
year  after  year  the  same  performance  can 
be  repeated  and  improved  on  by  taking 
hints  from  what  happened  the  time  before ; 
the  keeper  can  burn  the  heather  to  suit  the 
drive,  leaving  good  holding  cover  where 
the  birds  are  wanted  to  settle,  till,  in  all 
favourable  weather,  the  success  of  the 
drive  is  assured,  only  varying  in  degree 
according  to  how  the  young  birds  have 
fared  in  the  spring. 

In  planning  out  partridge-driving,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  are  no  set  pieces 
to  rely  on  ;  the  drive  which  proved  so 
killing  one  season  may  not  admit  of 
repetition  for  four  or  five  years,  and  with 
the  normal  rotation  of  crops  each  autumn 
presents  a  new  set  of  problems  in  driving 
to  be  dealt  with.  Besides  demanding 
more  careful  preparation  of  the  pro- 
ceedings, this  makes  it  far  more  difficult 
to  place  the  guns  aright,  for  while  in  a 
grouse  butt  the  occupant  finds  himself  in 
a  position  carefully  selected  to  meet  his 


246  PARTRIDGES 

requirements,  the  guns  in  a  partridge 
drive  have  often  to  make  the  best  of 
indifferent  cover  and  a  limited  field  of 
view.  On  the  other  side,  it  may  be 
placed  to  the  advantage  of  partridge- 
driving  that  its  operations  are  not  quite 
so  much  at  the  mercy  of  the  wind.  On 
a  moor,  if  the  long  sweeping  drive  of  the 
morning,  which  is  intended  to  collect  the 
birds  for  the  shorter  drives  of  the  after- 
noon, is  adversely  affected  by  a  wind 
from  the  wrong  quarter,  the  rest  of  the 
day  may  quite  well  be  completely  spoilt ; 
but  in  the  more  limited  sphere  of  opera- 
tions in  the  arable  country,  it  is  very  rare 
that  the  fate  of  the  whole  day  can  turn 
on  the  result  of  a  single  drive. 

A  long  purse  can  undoubtedly  simplify 
the  problems  of  partridge  -  driving ;  un- 
fortunately it  is  equally  the  exception. 
If  you  happen  to  be  a  millionaire,  and 
can  afford  to  farm  half  your  ground  your- 
self, arrange  to  have  other  land  cultivated 
to  suit  the  shooting,  plant  belts  to  drive 
the  birds  over,  and  make  remises  wherein 


DRIVING  247 

they  will  be  certain  to  seek  shelter  when- 
ever they  are  disturbed,  the  element  of 
uncertainty  is  practically  eliminated. 
But  the  narrow  margin  on  which  most 
estates  are  managed  in  these  hard  times 
necessitates  the  application  of  strict 
economic  principles,  and  rarely  admits  of 
any  consideration  of  shooting  require- 
ments. So  most  of  us  have  to  make  the 
best  of  things  as  we  find  them,  and  we 
must  lay  our  plans  all  the  more  carefully, 
and  leave  as  little  as  possible  to  chance. 
Unfortunately  it  is  exactly  in  those  parts 
of  the  country  where  natural  dis- 
advantages and  comparative  scarcity  of 
birds  make  the  closest  attention  to  every 
detail  essential  to  any  measure  of  success, 
that  careless  and  haphazard  ways  of 
going  about  the  business  seem  most  to 
prevail.  For  walking  in  line  has  quite 
gone  out  of  fashion  in  the  last  ten  years  ; 
driving  is  almost  universal,  and  though 
in  all  great  partridge  centres  long  practice 
has  made  of  it  a  finished  art,  there  remain 
hundreds  of  estates  in  remoter  districts 


248  PARTRIDGES 

where  driving,  though  regularly  practised, 
does  not  receive  a  tithe  of  the  attention 
it  demands. 

Flat  and  open  country,  with  large 
fields  and  just  enough  high  hedges  to 
shelter  the  guns,  is  best  suited  for  driving. 
Hilly  and  broken  ground,  or  small  fields, 
make  it  difficult  to  control  the  flight  of 
the  birds.  When  partridges,  on  being 
flushed,  can  at  once  see  the  whole  line  of 
beaters,  they  are  far  more  likely  to  fly  in 
the  required  direction  than  when  a  fold 
in  the  ground  or  a  thick  fence  bounding 
a  small  field  conceals  all  but  the  nearest 
beaters  from  view.  Hilly  country  has 
its  own  advantages  too  ;  a  greater  variety 
of  sporting  and  difficult  shots  are  pre- 
sented to  the  guns,  and  the  owner  can, 
as  it  were,  eat  his  cake  and  have  it  too, 
for  a  fair  stock  of  birds  on  1000  acres  of 
his  ground  will  give  two  or  three  days' 
sport  in  the  season,  drive  he  never  so 
wisely,  while  a  skilful  driver  with  the 
same  number  of  birds  on  a  like  acreage 
in    an   easier   country  would  leave  little 


DRIVING  249 

more  than  a  breeding  stock  at  the  end  of 
a  single  day's  shooting,  killing  perhaps 
two-thirds  of  the  birds  on  the  ground. 

In  planning  out  any  day's  driving,  the 
first  question  which  arises  is  how  many 
birds  there  are  on  the  ground,  the  answer 
to  which  can  only  be  supplied  by  the 
keeper  on  the  beat,  who  presumably  has 
been  using  his  eyes  and  —  if  his  master 
has  ever  made  him  a  very  useful  present 
— his  field-glasses. 

The  task  of  forming  anything  like  a 
correct  estimate  of  the  birds  on  a  beat  is 
certainly  no  easy  matter.  Appearances 
are  deceptive,  and  many  keepers  will  tell 
you  that  it  cannot  be  done  without 
working  a  pointer  over  the  ground.  But 
the  fact  remains  that  an  intelligent  and 
observant  man,  taking  careful  notes  before 
the  disturbance  of  harvest,  can  form  an 
opinion  which  is  accurate  enough  for  all 
practical  purposes.  Then  the  drives  are 
considered  and  settled  on,  each  being 
treated  as  part  of  the  general  scheme, 
which  is  to  collect  all  the  birds  from  the 


250  PARTRIDGES 

surrounding  country  into  one  place  where 
they  can  be  broken  up  and  *  hammered.' 
Unbroken  coveys  always  try  to  get  back 
to  their  own  ground  when  they  are  being 
pushed  far  away  from  home,  but  once 
the  covey  is  broken  up,  the  single  birds 
will  go  wherever  they  are  driven,  and  the 
bag  mounts  apace  when  partridges  are 
once  fairly  broken  up  in  good  holding 
cover.  The  natural  instinct  is  to  be 
always  pushing  on  to  fresh  ground  and 
fresh  birds ;  this  is  almost  always  a  mis- 
take, especially  late  in  the  day.  Keepers 
do  not  always  realize  that  a  drive  with 
only  two  scattered  coveys  in  it  will  prob- 
ably be  more  prolific  in  result,  if  the 
twenty  birds  come  singly  over  the  guns, 
than  the  alternative  of  a  drive  off  new 
ground  where  there  may  be  half-a-dozen 
unbroken  coveys,  which  will  most  likely 
all  come  over  in  a  swarm  and  escape  with 
the  loss  of  two  or  three  birds.  As  a 
general  rule,  unless  a  beat  has  to  be 
spared  in  a  bad  season,  it  pays  best  to 
make  the  work  of  the  afternoon  as  far  as 


DRIVING  251 

possible  a  repetition  of  the  drives  of  the 
morning. 

The  drives  should  be  finally  settled  on 
the  ground,  and  the  various  lines  for  the 
guns  determined  in  situ.  In  this  diffi- 
cult question  of  placing  the  guns  nothing 
should  be  left  to  chance.  If  it  be 
left  to  an  unexperienced  keeper  to  settle 
where  the  guns  are  to  stand,  he  will 
probably  place  them  scattered  about  in 
*  likely  spots'  down  the  whole  side  of  a 
field  ;  while  if  the  guns  are  simply  asked 
to  line  down  a  fence  from  a  fixed  point, 
they  are  sure  to  divide  the  distance  un- 
equally, and  in  either  case  some  guns  will 
be  found  to  be  60  or  80  yards  apart. 
With  such  intervals,  the  number  of  birds 
which  must  be  wounded  and  lost  in  a 
day  is  not  pleasant  to  think  of,  for  birds 
coming  low  between  two  guns  are  almost 
out  of  shot  before  they  have  safely 
cleared  the  line,  while  others  coming  up 
to  an  unguarded  part  of  the  fence  swing 
down  it  to  pass  through  the  line  at  an 
acute     and     difficult     angle.      A     little 


252  PARTRIDGES 

method  in  arrangement  easily  disposes 
of  this  danger  ;  guns  should  be  not  much 
more  than  45  yards  apart,  so  that  each 
may  have  a  fair  chance  of  killing  every 
bird  clean  that  comes  to  him,  and  of 
stopping  any  wounded  bird  that  is  carry- 
ing on  from  his  neighbour.  This  is  most 
important  when  birds  are  scarce,  for  then 
the  odd  covey  that  can  be  put  over  the 
line  must  give  a  chance  to  two  or  three 
guns,  instead  of  sneaking  through  a  wide 
gap  without  offering  a  fair  shot  to  any  one. 
So  in  planning  the  drives,  you  have 
only  to  reckon  the  number  of  guns  there 
will  be,  allow  45  yards  for  each,  and  thus 
determine  the  limits  of  the  line.  If  you 
have  six  guns,  you  can  reckon  that  they 
will  cover  270  yards  of  fence,  and  it  only 
remains  to  decide  which  270  yards  can  be 
most  profitably  utilized.  The  placing  of 
guns  is  not  an  easy  matter ;  they  must 
have  cover,  and  the  hedge  you  wish  to 
line  may  provide  none  ;  they  must  be  in 
a  straight  line,  and  the  hedge  often  turns 
at   an   angle   most  inconvenient  to  your 


DRIVING  258 

dispositions ;  or  the  obvious  place  for  the 
guns  may  be  out  in  the  open  without 
any  fence  at  all  handy.  Some  form  of 
temporary  butt  or  shelter  may  then  be 
put  up,  preferably  a  little  time  before  the 
shooting ;  even  then,  if  there  happen  to 
be  grazing  stock  or  horses  in  the  same 
field,  these  erections  will  be  demolished 
at  once,  and  then  some  form  of  portable 
shelter  must  be  resorted  to.  These  im- 
provisations are  never  wholly  satisfactory; 
they  inevitably  flap  about  in  a  high  wind, 
and  having  no  chameleon-like  qualities, 
must,  in  unfavourable  surroundings, 
appear  to  the  birds  as  a  somewliat  novel 
object  in  the  landscape  ;  only  they  are 
infinitely  better  than  no  cover  at  all, 
which  is  often  the  only  alternative ;  for 
nothing  turns  birds  so  quickly  as  the 
pallid  countenance  of  man,  besides  which 
some  freedom  of  movement,  when  birds 
are  coming,  is  essential  to  good  shooting. 
The    shelter    illustrated    here^    has    the 

^  These  screeus  were  supplied  to  the  writer's  order  by 
Messrs.    Hellis    &    Sons,    119   Edgware   Road,    London, 


254 


PARTRIDGES 


merits    of    being    comparatively    incon- 
spicuous,   simple    to    put    up    and    take 


THE    PORTABLE    SCREEN    IN    USE 

down,  strong   in   construction  yet  easily 

from  whom  they  may  be  obtained.  The  writer  may  add 
that  he  has  no  interest^  financial  or  otherwise^  in  their 
sale. 


SCREEN    FOLDED    FOR    TRANSPORT 


256 


PARTRIDGES 


carried  about  —  the  latter  an  important 
consideration.  It  measures  4  ft.  6  in. 
by  5  ft.,  and  weighs  about  S^  lbs. 
The  screen  is  of  light  canvas  stained  in 
two  different  shades  of  neutral  tint,  and 
is  carried  on  thin  lancewood  shafts,  sup- 
ported by  guy  ropes  of  fine  piano   wire. 


^ji 


Bracken,  branches,  or  long  grass  may  be 
easily  fixed  to  the  top  of  the  screen 
through  loops  provided  for  the  purpose, 
breaking  the  outline  and  assimilating 
the  whole  more  closely  to  its  natural 
surroundings.  Where  wattled  hurdles 
are  available  this  difficulty  may  be  met 
by  fixing  stakes  in  position  the  day  before 


The  Last  Drive  of  the  Season*. 


I 


DRIVING  257 

the  shoot,  so  that  a  keeper  can  put  up 
six  or  seven  hurdles  in  a  few  minutes, 
slipping  iron  rings  over  the  end  of  the 
hurdle  and  the  fixed  stake  as  shown  in 
the  diagram. 

In  settling  where  the  guns  are  to 
stand  when  lining  a  hedge,  you  must 
first  decide  whether  it  is  best  for  the 
guns  to  stand  right  up  to  the  hedge  or 
right  back  from  it ;  all  the  places  may 
not  be  equally  favoured,  and  if  left  to 
their  own  devices,  there  often  arises 
difference  of  opinion  between  some  who 
would  like  to  stand  back  and  others  who 
find  that  considerations  of  cover  demand 
that  they  should  be  close  up  to  the  fence  ; 
this  generally  results  in  an  unhappy 
compromise ;  every  one  feels  cramped 
and  uncomfortable,  which  fact  is  duly 
reflected  in  their  shooting. 

A  few  feet — I  had  almost  said  inches 
—  backwards  or  forwards  makes  the 
whole  difference  to  the  ease  and  execu- 
tion of  a  gun,  and  so  everything  points 
to  the  necessity  of  providing  beforehand 

17 


258  PARTRIDGES 

some  clear  indication  of  the  exact  position 
that  each  gun  is  supposed  to  occupy  in 
the  drive. 

The  distances  between  guns  must 
often  be  varied  to  suit  the  exigencies  of 
the  drive.  Thus  the  diagram  shows  the 
position  of  the  guns  for  a  drive  over  a 
heavily  timbered  fence.  The  small  letters 
show  the  pegs  as  they  would  be  were 
they    marked    out    by    rule    at    regular 


intervals.  But  the  gun  at  'c'  would 
get  little  or  no  shooting,  for  birds  always 
avoid  flying  over  the  high  trees  ;  so  this 
part  of  the  line  may  be  safely  disregarded, 
and  the  guns  placed  as  shown  by  the 
capital  letters.  Attention  to  such  details 
makes  all  the  difference  to  the  general 
success  of  the  day.  However  well  they 
may  see  where  they  ought  to  be  standing, 
it  is  impossible  for  individual  guns  to 
alter  their  position  to  suit  their  own 
convenience,  and  their  proper  disposition 


DRIVING  259 

can  only  be  ensured  by  arranging  things 
beforehand. 

The  guns  should  be  numbered  from 
right  to  left,  changing  places  after  each 
drive  to  give  every  one  his  turn  of  the 
shooting ;  for  if  the  driving  be  good,  the 
keeper  will  aim  at  putting  every  bird 
over  the  centre  of  the  line,  and  should 
the  three  central  guns  not  get  the  bulk 
of  the  shooting,  there  is  probably  some- 
what amiss  with  the  driving.  It  is  usual 
for  the  guns  to  move  two  places  each 
change  when  their  numbers  exceed  four ; 
then  no  one  has  to  take  outside  numbers 
twice  in  succession.  So,  in  marking  out 
the  drives,  a  cleft  stick  with  a  card 
bearing  the  number  in  the  line  serves  as 
a  ready  guide  to  all,  and  prevents  the 
confusions  and  misunderstandings  which 
otherwise  will  be  found  inevitable. 

The  lie  of  the  ground  is  often  not 
allowed  sufficient  importance  in  determin- 
ing where  to  place  guns.  There  seems 
to  be  an  almost  universal  tendency  to 
insist  on  the  line  being  marked  out  on 


260  PARTRIDGES 

the  ground  by  a  hedge  or  wall.  It  is 
quite  surprising  to  find  how  slight  and 
unnoticed  a  depression  will  completely 
conceal  a  line  of  guns,  and,  in  undulating 
country,  when  the  fence  of  the  field  you 
are  driving  happens  to  be  awkwardly 
placed  for  shooting  from,  a  comparatively 
ineffective  drive  can  often  be  turned  into 
a  very  killing  one  by  moving  the  line  a 
short  distance  forwards  or  backwards  and 
making  use  of  a  dip  in  the  ground,  or  by 
putting  up  a  line  of  butts  30  yards  behind 
the  offending  fence. 

A  keeper  is  naturally  inclined  to 
devote  the  whole  of  his  thoughts  to  his 
own  part  of  the  business,  and  is  apt  to 
think  that  if  the  birds  are  brought  over 
the  guns,  it  is  not  his  fault  if  the  pick  up 
at  the  end  of  the  drive  is  small,  forgetting 
that  no  gun  can  be  expected  to  do  him- 
self justice  if  he  is  placed  where  he  can 
neither  see  well  nor  move  freely.  Of 
course  if  you  have  a  tall  belt  of  firs,  a 
narrow  valley,  or  a  railway  cutting  on 
the  ground,  you  should  dodge  the  drives 


DRIVING  261 

about  to  make  full  use  of  these  natural 
advantages  ;  for  when  the  birds  are  '  well 
up,'  not  only  do  they  give  the  prettiest 
of  shooting,  but  the  general  execution  is 
much  improved,  the  guns  then  being  able 
to  take  the  birds  when  nearest  to  them, 
without  having  to  consider  the  safety  of 
their  neighbours. 

After  planning  out  the  ten  or  twelve 
drives  for  the  day,  having  in  view  a  calm 
day  or  a  continuance  of  the  prevailing 
wind,  you  have  then  to  face  the  possibility 
of  one  from  the  opposite  direction.  To 
meet  this  contingency  some  alternative 
plan  of  campaign  is  necessary,  for  the 
importance  of  wind  as  a  factor  in  the 
day's  proceedings  cannot  well  be  over- 
estimated, and  to  reckon  without  it  is 
indeed  flying  in  the  face  of  providence. 
The  difficulty  is  best  overcome  by  having 
two  trysts  for  the  morning,  one  for 
normal  conditions  and  the  other  to  fall 
back  on  if  the  wind  shifts  to  another 
quarter  in  the  interim.  The  prearranged 
drives  can  then  still  be  made  use  of,  only 


262  PARTRIDGES 

altered  in  sequence  to  suit  the  changed 
order  of  the  day.  Besides  this,  you  must 
always  be  prepared  to  depart  from  your 
carefully  elaborated  schemes  if  the  birds 
do  not  fall  in  with  them ;  it  is  like  war 
on  a  small  scale,  the  enemy's  army  is 
your  true  objective,  and  his  cities  and 
strongholds,  represented  in  this  case  by 
fields  of  turnip,  mustard,  or  rape,  lose  all 
true  value  and  remain  only  a  snare  and  a 
delusion  when  the  birds  have  betaken 
themselves  elsewhere.  This  seemingly 
trivial  point  demands  and  deserves  close 
consideration,  for  it  is  not  an  easy  move 
in  the  game  to  depart  boldly  from  the 
ordered  sequence  of  events,  and  turn 
aside  after  a  big  lot  of  birds  that  have 
gone  the  wrong  way.  Not  easy,  but 
almost  always  worth  while,  unless  you 
have  great  numbers  of  birds  all  over  the 
ground ;  for  the  coveys  have  probably 
been  broken  up  by  going  once  over  the 
guns,  and  scattered  birds  are  what  make 
a  killhig  drive.  The  difficulty  of  this,  as 
of  every  other   manoeuvre  in  driving,  is 


DllIVING  263 

vastly  increased  if  you  are  working  in  a 
country  where  grass-fields  abound  and 
turnips  and  stubbles  are  few  and  far 
between.  Your  birds  are  then  fewer 
and  harder  to  find,  and  you  cannot  well 
afford  to  pass  on  and  leave  a  big  lot  of 
birds  behind  you  ;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
field  of  your  operations  is  vastly  increased 
when  a  mile  is  the  normal  distance 
between  turnip-fields ;  your  lunch  is  at 
some  farm  -  house  perhaps  nearer  two 
miles  than  one  from  where  the  bulk  of 
the  birds  have  gone,  and  it  will  indeed 
have  to  be  a  movable  feast,  in  more 
senses  than  one,  if  the  shooting  considera- 
tions are  to  come  first. 

The  writer  speaks  feelingly  of  this  not 
uncommon  type  of  country,  where  it 
takes  perhaps  1500  acres,  containing  only 
some  half-dozen  turnip-fields,  to  make  a 
day's  driving,  for  these  are  the  conditions 
in  his  own  county  in  the  west  of  Scotland, 
where  he  may  claim  to  have  been  the 
pioneer  of  driving.  Here  redoubled 
vigilance  is  necessary  to  keep  your  birds, 


264  PARTRIDGES 

and  as  every  grass-field  is  studded  with 
whinny  knowes  and  rushy  hollows,  the 
way  birds  get  *  squandered'  and  lost 
between  the  drives  is  marvellous.  To 
any  who  have  to  deal  with  similar  condi- 
tions, it  may  be  useful  to  point  out  that 
some  success  may  be  assured  by  handling 
the  birds  very  carefully  in  the  turnips. 
Having  collected  every  possible  bird  into 
a  large  field  of  good  holding  cover — and 
in  our  damp  climate  the  turnips  grow 
high  and  thick  —  the  beaters  move  very 
slowly  down  the  field  with  the  flanks 
pushed  well  in  advance,  almost  reaching 
the  line  of  guns  before  the  centre  is  half- 
way down  the  field.  If  all  goes  well, 
when  the  line  of  beaters  has  come  within 
80  yards  of  the  end  of  the  field,  most  of 
the  coveys  are  still  between  them  and  the 
guns  ;  these  birds,  having  heard  the  shoot- 
ing in  front,  and  the  men  passing  them 
on  either  flank,  now  become  aware  of  the 
beaters  coming  on  behind  them,  and 
feeling  completely  hemmed  in,  almost 
invariably  squat.     Then  the  line  coming 


DRIVING  265 

on  very  slowly,  and  working  every  inch 
of  the  cover,  flushes  each  bird  singly. 
Such  a  drive  takes  time,  but  we  have 
often  opened  the  day  by  killing  60  or  70 
head  at  one  stand,  where  we  should  cer- 
tainly not  have  realized  a  quarter  as 
much  had  we  taken  the  drive  at  an 
ordinary  pace  and  flushed  the  coveys 
entire.  In  a  rough  country,  where  you 
cannot  make  certain  of  seeing  your  birds 
again,  this  method  seems  almost  the  only 
way  of  realizing  at  least  one  lot  of  birds, 
and  with  due  precaution  will  be  found  to 
answer,  so  long  as  there  is  enough  cover 
left,  even  as  late  as  the  beginning  of 
December. 

Another  constant  danger  is  the  wind. 
In  autumn  and  winter  the  south-west 
wind  is  always  with  us,  or  within  easy 
reach  ;  and  while  this  means  that  every 
bird  he  kills  will  give  the  moderate 
performer  a  glow  of  satisfaction,  it  does 
add  considerably  to  the  difficulties  of 
handling  the  birds  to  know  that  when 
you  flush  a  covey  it  will  probably  swing 


266  PARTRIDGES 

a  mile  with  the  wind  before  thinking  of 
settling  again.  In  a  country  where  three 
fields  out  of  four  are  cultivated,  about 
800  acres  of  ground  carrying  a  fair  stock 
should  make  a  day's  driving.  Two  sets 
of  beaters,  if  they  are  under  good  dis- 
cipline, very  materially  increase  the 
amount  of  ground  you  can  cover,  for  if 
their  movements  are  well  timed,  one 
drive  then  follows  hard  on  the  heels  of 
the  next,  the  second  lot  of  beaters  being 
already  in  position  for  the  ensuing  drive, 
while  the  first  drive  is  still  in  progress. 
If  the  command  is  then  still  to  be  vested 
in  one  man's  hands,  he  should  be  mounted, 
or  time  will  be  wasted  between  the  drives. 
With  one  set  of  beaters,  it  is  well  to 
make  a  square  of  the  drives,  four  drives 
each  at  right  angles  to  the  last,  the 
fourth  bringing  you  back  to  where  you 
originally  started.  The  same  drives  can 
then  be  taken  in  the  reverse  order,  giving 
eight  drives  in  all,  each  helping  the  next, 
and  all  using  the  same  birds.  A  detached 
party  should   always   be  working  ahead, 


DRIVING  267 

helping  the  following  drive  by  bringing 
in  all  the  birds  off  the  surrounding  fields 
into  the  turnip-field  that  is  to  be  driven. 
The  drives  cannot  well  be  too  short  in 
the  earlier  part  of  the  season  ;  later  on  in 
the  year  the  birds  take  much  longer 
flights,  and  more  extended  drives  are 
advisable. 

Every  endeavour  should  be  made  to 
get  the  beaters  interested  in  the  work  ; 
nor  is  this  hard,  if  they  once  get  to  under- 
stand the  game,  for  partridge-driving  can 
be  great  fun  to  every  one  who  takes  part 
in  it,  even  without  a  gun,  and  men  and 
boys,  if  they  once  get  keen  about  the 
business,  will  drop  the  idea  of  doing  as 
little  as  they  can  to  earn  their  half-crown 
or  five  shillings,  and  work  with  a  will  to 
bear  their  share  in  outmanoeuvring  the 
birds.  The  human  voice  is  a  fatal  adjunct 
to  partridge-driving,  and  any  vocal  efforts 
on  the  part  of  keepers  or  beaters  must 
be  checked  at  the  outset.  *  Clappers,' 
however,  are  sometimes  very  useful, 
especially  early   in  the  season,   for  they 


268  PARTRIDGES 

help  to  keep  the  birds  moving  on  in  front 
of  the  beaters  and  not  rising  at  their  feet 
and  turning  back.  The  beater  carries 
his  clapper  in  one  hand,  and  shakes  it, 
and  the  result  of  the  whole  line  using 
them  at  once  is  like  the  twittering  of  ten 
thousand  sparrows.  The  chief  difficulty 
with  untrained  beaters  is  to  induce  them 
to  keep  the  crescent  formation  which  is 
so  necessary  to  successful  driving ;  each 
man  likes  to  keep  in  line  with  his  neigh- 
bours on  either  side,  and  it  takes  time 
and  trouble  to  impress  on  them  the  right 
way  they  should  go.  They  must  also 
understand  how  important  it  is  to  keep 
their  proper  intervals ;  gaps  in  the  line 
are  what  birds  are  always  seeking  to  find 
when  they  are  averse  to  facing  the  music 
in  front,  and  want  to  break  back. 

It  is  true  economy  to  deal  generously 
with  your  beaters  ;  not  as  regards  money, 
for  in  fairness  to  your  neighbours  the 
regular  tariff  obtaining  in  the  district 
must  always  be  adhered  to ;  nor  indeed 
would  any  increase  of  wage  be  half  so 


DRIVING  269 

much  appreciated  as  those  small  provisions 
for  their  comfort  which  bespeak  a  kindly 
consideration  for  their  welfare.  A  bowl 
of  hot  broth,  or  a  dish  of  steaming  stew 
after  a  long  and  cold  morning,  puts  fresh 
heart  into  a  man,  and  a  cup  of  tea  and  a 
bun  when  the  day  is  over  are  very  grate- 
ful to  lads  with  a  long  trudge  home  in 
the  dark  before  them.  Besides  these 
attentions  to  the  inner  man,  stout  and 
serviceable  smocks  cost  little,  and  issued 
to  the  beaters  in  cold  and  wet  weather, 
form  a  welcome  supplement  to  clothes 
often  thin  and  little  suited  for  the  business 
in  hand.  Such  little  provisions  for  their 
well-being,  and  a  friendly  word  of  thanks 
after  a  good  day's  work,  go  far  to  promote 
a  general  feeling  of  goodwill  to  your 
sport;  and  it  is  a  pity  that  some  would 
seem  to  look  on  their  beaters  only  as 
so  many  machines  they  have  hired  for 
the  day. 

To  flank  a  partridge  drive  properly  is 
no  easy  matter ;  hedges  or  a  fold  in  the 
ground    often    intervene    to   impede   the 


270  PARTRIDGES 

view,  and  as  flankers  must  in  many  cases 
be  placed  close  in  to  the  drive  if  they  are 
to  act  at  all,  they  have  to  be  very  careful 
not  to  expose  themselves,  lying  *  doggo ' 
till  the  critical  moment  when  one  well- 
timed  wave  of  the  flag  turns  the  covey 
which  was  edging  out  of  the  drive  back 
over  the  guns.  Unlike  poets,  flankers  are 
made  and  not  born,  and  it  is  quite  useless 
to  expect  a  man  to  flank  a  drive  by  the 
light  of  nature ;  for  a  man's  natural  instinct 
seems  to  be  to  plant  himself  solidly  in  a 
commanding  position,  where  it  is  to  be 
supposed  every  bird  in  the  field  is  intended 
to  notice  him  and  say  to  itself :  "  Ah,  I 
see  a  man  on  that  knoll ;  I  shall  not  fly 
that  way  if  these  clodhoppers  behind 
disturb  me  again."  In  point  of  fact,  if 
birds  can  see  the  man  with  the  flag  all  the 
time,  they  treat  his  efforts  with  indifference 
when  other  danger  becomes  pressing  and 
they  wish  to  quit  the  scene  in  his  direction. 
So  the  flanker  must  be  taught  that  his  duty 
for  the  most  part  is  to  remain  completely 
hidden,  and  only  to  appear  as  a  sudden 


DRIVING  271 

and  startling  bar  to  further  progress 
when  birds  are  thinking  of  breaking.  He 
must  refrain  from  over-flanking,  a  common 
and  annoying  practice,  remembering  that, 
in  the  interests  of  later  drives,  any- 
thing is  better  than  that  birds  should  go 
back.  Thus  it  may  often  be  too  risky  to 
attempt  to  flank  birds  which  are  going 
forward,  although  they  may  be  going  to 
pass  wide  of  the  guns.  In  the  interests 
of  their  health,  flankers  should  make  sure 
that  the  guns  realize  where  they  are 
placed  before  the  drive  begins,  especially 
if  the  line  happens  to  be  standing  up  to 
a  low  fence.  It  is  usually  best  and  safest 
for  all  concerned  that  the  flankers  should 
accompany  the  guns  and  be  posted  by 
the  host.  Sometimes,  and  especially  in 
districts  where  the  fields  in  crop  are  at  all 
widely  separated,  a  flanker,  very  carefully 
placed  well  behind  the  line,  may  be  a 
useful  adjunct  to  the  drive  ;  besides  helping 
the  birds  on  the  way  they  are  wanted  to 
go,  he  can  make  himself  very  useful  as  a 
marker,  noting  carefully  where  birds  are 


272  PARTRIDGES 

making  for,  and  the  exact  spot  where  any 
cripples  or  towered  birds  fall. 

It  is  well  to  avoid  ever  driving  into 
turnips,  or  from  one  turnip  -  field  into 
another  adjacent  one,  for  the  difficulty 
of  picking  up  the  birds  after  the  drive 
then  becomes  serious  in  any  case,  and  well- 
nigh  insuperable  if  the  roots  are  high  and 
the  scent  bad.  The  picking  up  must  always 
be  systematic ;  a  tally  kept  of  the  total 
number  of  birds  seen  by  the  guns  to  fall 
at  each  drive,  so  that  no  time  may  be  lost 
in  looking  for  birds  already  gathered  by 
some  one  else,  and  no  little  heaps  of  slain 
forgotten  and  left  under  the  hedge.  If 
the  guns  have  not  all  dogs  of  their  own, 
keepers  must  be  specially  told  off  to 
stay  with  the  guns  all  day  and  be  respon- 
sible for  the  disposition  of  the  slain.  The 
keepers  in  charge  of  the  driving  line  have 
no  time  to  bother  their  heads  about  picking 
up  dead  birds  at  all.  As  soon  as  the 
drive  is  in,  they  have  all  their  work  cut 
out  to  collect  the  beaters,  and  get  them 
started  at  once  for  the  next  drive. 


Tiiii  \'alley  of  Death.  " 


DRIVING  273 

111  theory  the  beaters  should  never 
be  allowed  to  appear  on  the  scene  at  all 
while  picking  up  is  going  on.  They  are 
only  an  unmitigated  nuisance,  taking  the 
wind  from  the  dogs  and  interfering  with 
their  work,  and  casually  picking  up  birds 
unknown  to  any  one,  which  same  birds 
are  then  diligently  sought  for  in  vain  by 
the  shooter.  In  practice,  however,  it  may 
be  as  well  to  allow  the  drivers  to  come 
forward  and  pick  up  the  dead  birds.  Their 
presence  must  then  be  tolerated  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  a  distinct  satisfaction  to 
them  to  pick  up  some  of  the  bag,  without 
which  the  day's  walking  becomes  very  dull. 

When  the  bag  can  be  reckoned  by  the 
hundred,  some  attention  to  the  question 
of  transport  is  necessary,  so  that  the  birds 
may  arrive  home  cool  and  in  good  con- 
dition. Some  light  form  of  game  van 
with  a  cover  should  be  employed,  well 
ventilated,  and  designed  so  that  the  birds 
can  be  quickly  yet  neatly  hung  up,  and 
not  just  dumped  down  to  get  all  crushed 
and  heated  in  transit.     The  simplest  plan 

18 


274  PARTRIDGES 

is  to  put  the  birds  straight  into  '  carriers,' 
each  holding  twenty  or  thirty  birds,  and 
fasten  the  carriers  straight  into  the  cart ; 
some  method  of  hooking  them  up  being 
easy  to  devise.  The  total  may  then 
readily  be  reckoned  at  any  time  by 
checking  the  number  of  full  carriers,  the 
bag  may  be  well  displayed  at  lunch  time 
by  simply  lifting  the  full  carriers  out  and 
propping  them  up  on  standards,  and  all 
unnecessary  handling  of  the  birds  is  thus 
avoided. 

While  on  still  days  the  crescent  forma- 
tion is  the  best  for  the  driving  line  to 
adopt,  whenever  the  wind  is  blowing 
with  any  force  from  a  flank  or  against 
the  drive,  the  greatest  care  is  necessary 
to  adopt  an  appropriate  formation.  The 
first  diagram  shows  the  method  of  driv- 
ing  a  turnip-field  with  a  cross  head-wind. 
The  whole  secret  of  the  drive  is  to  force 
the  birds  into  the  up-wind  corner  of  the 
field.  Once  this  is  accomplished  —  and 
it  is  possibly  the  most  difficult  manoeuvre 
in  driving,  demanding  careful  and  skilful 


276  PARTRIDGES 

handling  of  the  line — all  then  rests  with 
the  flanker.  If  he  plays  his  part  well, 
almost  every  covey  can  be  sent  over  the 
line  in  a  slanting  direction,  offering  a 
chance  to  each  gun  in  turn  as  it  swings 
down  the  line.  A  possible  objection  to 
this  drive  would  be  that  the  birds  were 
driven  away  from  the  direction  in  which 
they  were  wanted  to  go ;  but  with  a 
strong  side-wind  they  would  probably 
swing  round  with  the  wind  in  any  case, 
even  if  they  could  be  brought  straight 
over  the  guns. 

Diagrams  2  and  3  show  the  same  field, 
this  time  driven  against  a  head-wind — 
a  manoeuvre  only  possible  after  the  ground 
has  been  filled  by  several  down-wind 
drives.  The  second  diagram  shows  how 
fatal  the  normal  crescent  formation  would 
prove  in  this  case.  The  results  of  moving 
with  the  flanks  thrown  forward  would  be 
an  ill-timed  exposition  of  the  advantages 
of  the  half-moon  method  for  walking 
up-wind,  and  the  bulk  of  the  birds  would 
inevitably    go    straight    back    over    the 


DRIVING  277 

driving  line.  The  third  diagram  shows 
the  right  way  to  carry  out  this  drive ; 
the  flanks  are  hardly  advanced  at  all,  the 
line  being  practically  straight ;  no  flankers 
are  posted.  A  few  birds  will  probably 
turn  straight  back  over  the  beaters'  heads, 
but  the  bulk  of  the  birds  —  homeward 
bound — may  be  relied  on  to  go  straight 
over  the  guns. 

The  guns  should  always  do  their  share 
towards  making  the  day  a  success,  by 
paying  a  reasonable  amount  of  attention 
to  the  work  in  hand.  They  can  help 
matters  considerably  by  responding  readily 
to  instructions  and  generally  showing 
some  interest  in  the  proceedings.  No- 
thing is  more  annoying  to  a  host  who  is 
anxious  to  get  on  to  the  next  drive 
than  to  find  that  some  couple  have 
wandered  off  in  quite  the  wrong  direction, 
deeply  engaged  in  earnest  discussion,  and 
entirely  oblivious  of  the  flight  of  precious 
time.  Between  drives,  guns  ought  to 
be  carried  unloaded ;  shooting  at  odd 
birds   when   moving  to   a   new  stand  is 


278  PARTRIDGES 

dangerous  work  and  should  never  be 
allowed.  Partridges  have  a  marked  dis- 
like to  the  human  voice,  and  the  host's 
injunction  to  move  quietly  into  their 
places  should  be  strictly  complied  with 
by  his  guests. 

The  fourth  diagram  shows  a  success- 
ful morning's  driving  off  some  500  acres 
of  well-cultivated  land  with  600  to  700 
birds  on  it,  six  guns  and  about  thirty 
beaters  taking  part.  As  will  be  seen  on 
the  plan,  the  first  two  drives  are  sweeping- 
in  manoeuvres  to  collect  the  birds,  and 
helped  by  the  wind  should  result  in  the 
mass  of  the  birds  being  pushed  across  the 
road  during  the  second  drive.  The  guns 
then  occupy  the  hedge  marked  as  'final 
position.'  Half  the  beaters  bring  the 
roots  next  the  road  over  the  guns,  while 
the  other  half  get  round  the  far  side  of 
the  farther  root  field.  The  guns  then 
face  about,  now  lining  the  other  side  of 
the  fence  for  the  fourth  drive ;  this  is 
the  first  drive  with  an  adverse  wind,  but 
the  birds  are  all  making  homewards  and 


DRIVING 


279 


should  come  on  well.  By  now,  however, 
the  birds  must  have  suffered  pretty- 
heavily,  and  so  new  birds  are  pressed  into 


Boundary 


DIAGRAM  4 


the  service.  The  first  lot  of  beaters  have 
crossed  the  main  road  and  are  bringing 
up  all  the  fields  from  the  boundary  fence, 
the   guns    resuming   their   places   of  the 


280  PARTRIDGES 

third  drive.  Finally,  the  second  lot  of 
beaters  repeat  the  fourth  drive,  the  newly 
broken  birds  of  the  preceding  drive 
being  again  made  use  of.  There  are  no 
features  of  peculiar  interest  in  this  ex- 
ample ;  only  it  serves  as  an  instance  of 
ground  worked  on  the  right  lines.  The 
long  drives  are  the  two  first  ones,  which 
bring  the  mass  of  the  birds  down-wind, 
collecting  them  on  ground  where  they 
can  be  *  harried.'  Then  in  the  last  two 
drives  a  new  lot  of  birds  are  brought  in 
without  losing  'grip'  of  the  broken  and 
scattered  coveys  of  the  previous  drives. 
In  a  case  like  this  the  day  must  be  divided 
into  two  parts,  each  complete  in  itself. 
Where  possible,  it  is  generally  better  to 
make  the  whole  day  one  campaign,  and 
end  in  the  evening  where  you  started 
in  the  morning,  but  naturally  local  con- 
ditions do  not  always  admit  of  this.  The 
only  other  point  in  this  example  which 
calls  for  remark  is  that  it  is  not  advisable, 
where  it  can  be  avoided,  to  drive  several 
times  over  the  same  fence,  for  the  birds 


DRIVING  281 

in  time  realize  the  danger  zone  and  avoid 
it. 

Having  once  started  regular  driving 
on  a  shooting,  any  one  who  would  im- 
prove his  methods  from  year  to  year 
must  be  prepared  to  admit  himself  in 
the  wrong,  and  never  rest  till  he  has 
worried  out  for  himself  where  the  mis- 
take lay.  Nothing  is  more  hopeless  for 
future  prospects  than  to  find — and  the 
case  is  common — that  the  man  who  has 
just  committed  errors,  palpable  to  any 
one  with  the  most  superficial  knowledge 
of  the  subject,  is  wrapped  in  an  im- 
penetrable fog  of  self-deception.  The 
wind,  the  birds,  the  weather,  or  the  ground 
must  all,  in  varying  degree,  bear  the 
blame  for  want  of  success ;  when  all  else 
fails,  '  bad  luck '  will  be  called  upon,  like 
charity,  to  cover  the  multitude  of  sins. 
Only  the  true  causes,  lack  of  method  and 
disregard  of  the  few  and  simple  rules, 
will  never  be  given  a  second's  considera- 
tion in  this  complacent  mind.  *Gie  us 
a  guid  conceit  o'  oorsels '  is  not  the  spirit 


282  PARTRIDGES 

in  which  to  undertake  to  inaugurate  a 
novel  and  difficult  practice;  a  conscious- 
ness of  one's  own  ignorance  at  the  outset 
is  essential  to  any  real  progress,  and  if 
the  beginner  be  only  honest  with  him- 
self, he  will  be  surprised  how  often  he 
can  bring  the  failures  home  to  his  own 
door. 

Of  course  there  are  times  when  things 
will  go  wrong  in  spite  of  the  best-laid 
plans ;  how  bitter  the  disappointment, 
then,  to  the  right  sort  of  keeper  when 
he  sees  the  weather  taking  charge,  and 
all  control  passing  from  his  hands,  let 
one  instance  serve  to  show.  It  was  an 
October  day  in  a  northern  county ;  the 
estate  was  small,  but  the  outlook  hopeful 
for  a  grand  day  with  the  partridges,  for 
the  dispositions  were  beyond  reproach, 
the  beaters  intelligent  and  skilfully 
handled,  the  guns  well  placed,  and  the 
very  boundary  fences  had  been  carefully 
*  flagged '  their  whole  length  with  old 
newspapers.  But  no  sooner  was  the 
sport   fairly  begun   than   the   wind   rose 


DRIVING  283 

and  the  rain  fell.  Right  manfully  did 
the  keeper  struggle  on  against  adversity, 
though  all  to  no  purpose  ;  every  covey  that 
rose  was  swept  across  the  boundary  over 
the  beaters'  heads,  and  no  handling  of  the 
birds  was  possible.  After  lunch  the  host 
called  for  the  keeper,  to  discuss  whether 
any  further  shooting  was  worth  while. 
But  the  keeper  was  not  forthcoming, 
and  it  was  only  after  a  prolonged  search 
that  he  was  discovered  dead  drunk  and 
peacefully  slumbering  in  the  seclusion 
of  a  ditch.  Let  it  not  be  imputed  to 
him  for  a  sin ;  he  was  a  temperate  man 
in  the  ordinary  walks  of  life,  only  the 
trials  of  the  morning  had  proved  too 
much  to  bear,  and  obliged  to  own  himself 
defeated,  he  had  sought  and  found  a 
merciful  oblivion  in  the  best  part  of  a 
bottle  of  neat  whisky.  Without  wishing 
to  advocate  such  extreme  measures,  it 
may  be  said  that  the  success  of  the  day 
very  largely  depends  on  the  organizer 
taking  his  duties  seriously. 

Another    natural    and   insidious   error 


284  PARTRIDGES 

is  for  the  native  to  fancy  that  he  alone 
knows  all  about  the  peculiar  race  of 
partridges  that  live  at  Snoozleby,  or 
whatever  his  place  may  be  called.  The 
victim  of  this  delusion  will  read  all  the 
collected  wisdom  of  the  experts  on  the 
subject,  and  then,  without  putting  their 
precepts  into  practice,  will  confidently 
assure  you  that — "  It's  all  very  well  for 
those  fellows  in  Norfolk  and  Cambridge, 
where  they  have  —  enumerating  a  list 
of  supposititious  advantages  denied  to 
Snoozleby — but  it  can't  be  done  here ;  I 
know  what  our  ground  is,  and  1  know  what 
our  partridges  can  do "  (they  always  fly 
farther  or  run  faster  than  any  one  else's 
birds,  or  else  just  put  their  foot  down  and 
decline  to  be  driven). 

There  certainly  are  a  few,  very  few, 
countries  where  partridges  can  hardly 
be  driven  to  advantage,  and  then  the 
reason  is  patent  and  needs  no  explanation. 
Not  every  type  of  country  can  be  driven 
with  the  same  success,  but  almost  every 
stretch  of  arable   land  well  handled  can 


DRIVING  285 

show  sport  good  enough  to  warrant  the 
attempt. 

This  singling  out  of  individual  localities 
as  extraordinary  exceptions  to  the  general 
rule  is  very  common  in  districts  where 
driving  is  still  a  novelty,  so,  for  the 
benefit  of  any  who  would  lay  this  flatter- 
ing unction  to  their  souls,  let  us  conclude 
the  chapter  by  propounding  a  short  list 
of  rules,  which,  carefully  and  intelligently 
followed,  should,  at  least  in  our  opinion, 
ensure  success  almost  anywhere,  given 
enough  partridges  to  drive  and  scope  of 
ground  to  drive  them  on,  but  the  neglect 
of  which  will  most  assuredly  mean  failure 
on  any  ground,  be  it  the  best-stocked 
manor  in  Norfolk,  or  only  some  distant 
lairdship  in  the  north  country. 

1.  The  keeper  must  have  a  good  idea 
as  to  the  numbers,  distribution,  and 
natural  flight  of  the  birds  on  his  ground 
before  the  shooting  begins  ;  before  ground 
is  shot  over  he  must  also  arrange  with 
the  farmers  that  the  ground  is  kept  quiet 
for  the  day. 


286  PARTRIDGES 

2.  The  day  must  be  carefully  planned 
out  beforehand  with  due  regard  to 
questions  of  time  and  space,  and  there 
must  be  alternative  plans  to  adopt  in  case 
of  a  contrary  wind,  for  each  drive  must 
help  to  collect  the  birds,  and  therefore 
to  start  at  the  down- wind  end  of  the 
ground  can  never  be  right. 

3.  Birds  must  be  driven  and  not 
ground ;  having  found  the  birds,  the 
main  object  is  to  keep  and  use  them ; 
therefore  where  the  birds  go  the  drivers 
must  follow,  even  though  this  means 
departing  from  the  prearranged  plan. 

4.  The  beaters  must  be  under  control 
and  know  something  of  their  work. 
Either  all  or  none  must  carry  flags ;  an 
odd  flag  here  and  there  is  worse  than 
useless.  They  must  keep  their  intervals, 
but  must  be  ready  to  move  in  any  forma- 
tion. For  there  is  no  one  golden  rule 
as  to  the  shape  of  the  driving  line ;  it 
must  be  continually  varied  to  suit  the 
wind,  the  lie  of  the  ground,  and  the 
way  the  birds  would  like  to  go. 


DRIVING  287 

5.  There  must  be  a  keeper  in  the 
centre  of  the  beaters,  who  can  easily 
control  their  movements  by  a  distinctive 
flag ;  the  beaters  must  understand  his 
signals,  so  that  he  can  bring  on  or  hold 
back  any  portion  of  the  line  at  will.  If 
a  working  system  of  signals  cannot  be 
arrived  at,  the  keeper  in  charge  must 
be  allowed  to  use  his  voice.  This  pre- 
rogative he  should  exercise  as  rarely  as 
possible,  for  shouting  or  unnecessary 
noise  during  the  progress  of  a  drive 
is  well  calculated  to  spoil  the  whole 
manoeuvre. 

6.  Some  one,  preferably  the  host,  should 
always  be  with  the  guns,  and  show  each 
one  exactly  where  he  has  to  take  his 
stand ;  otherwise  there  is  sure  to  be 
confusion. 

7.  The  question  of  how  to  pick  up 
the  birds  after  the  drive  and  who  is  to 
do  it,  must  be  settled  beforehand.  The 
beaters  must  not  be  relied  on  for  this 
work,  for,  though  it  may  be  sometimes 
advisable   to   allow  them  to  pick  up  for 


288  PARTRIDGES 

a  few  minutes  in  order  to  stimulate  their 
interest  in  the  proceedings,  yet  as  a  rule 
they  should  be  well  on  their  way  to 
take  up  their  position  for  the  next  drive 
while  picking  up  is  still  going  on.  Neglect 
of  this  point  often  means  waste  of  many 
precious  half-hours  in  an  already  short 
enough  day. 

8.  Until  the  driving  has  been  reduced 
to  a  working  system,  owner  and  keeper 
must  hammer  away  at  mastering  the 
rudiments  of  the  business  together ;  the 
former  will  have  cheerfully  to  leave  his 
gun  at  home,  resign  his  place  in  the  line, 
and  personally  supervise  the  driving  and 
the  beaters,  until  it  is  clear  that  the 
business  is  started  on  the  right  lines. 

If  any  one  can  honestly  say  that  he 
has  given  driving  a  fair  and  extended 
trial,  observing  strictly  these  cardinal 
rules,  and  still  found  it  a  failure,  there 
is  fair  reason  to  suppose  that  his  ground 
is  not  '  drivable ' ;  but  a  few  casual  essays 
in  a  new  and  difficult  practice  warrant 
no  such  off-hand  conclusion. 


DRIVING  289 

The  cost  of  driving  varies  beyond  all 
pov^er  of  striking  any  average.  The  rent 
of  partridge  land  may  be  sixpence  or 
three  shillings  an  acre,  the  figure  being 
often  determined  by  considerations  quite 
foreign  to  the  actual  shooting  it  affords. 
Accessibility,  social  amenities,  the  popu- 
larity of  a  district,  all  help  to  influence 
the  rent. 

But  in  every  case  it  is  clear  that 
economy  and  efficiency  are  closely  allied, 
and  the  shooting  accounts  should  be  kept 
in  business-like  fashion,  however  generous 
the  scale  of  expenditure.  In  a  quiet 
district  it  might  be  reckoned  that  a  shoot- 
ing affording  six  days  of  fair  driving  would 
cost  about  £500  a  year,  but  any  such 
estimate  must  be  an  uncertain  guide ; 
nor  is  it  possible  to  give  any  details  of 
expenditure  without  laying  oneself  open 
to  severe  criticism  from  those  to  whom 
the  figures  did  not  happen  to  appeal 


19 


CHAPTER   IX 

OLD    MICHAELMAS    DAY 

An  hour  after  dawn  on  Old  Michaelmas 
day ;  deep  silence  broods  over  all,  and 
a  dense  white  mist  blots  out  each  feature 
in  the  landscape,  holding  everything 
wrapped  in  its  chill  embrace. 

Not  a  leaf  stirring,  till  presently  a 
careful  tread  becomes  audible,  and  the 
stalwart  form  of  an  underkeeper  looms 
up  through  the  mist,  muffled  up  in  heavy 
cape  and  woollen  scarf  against  the  cold 
air  of  morning,  a  stout  buckthorn  staff 
in  his  right  hand,  showing  that  he  is  not 
unprepared  to  meet  any  possible  emer- 
gency. This  is  his  domain,  and  he  is 
making  a  last  round  to  satisfy  himself 
that  all  is  well  on  his  beat,  before  the 
day  which  is  even  now  breaking,   when 

290 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     291 

he  has  high  hopes  of  showing  such  sport 
as  shall  more  than  repay  him  for  the 
long  months  of  hard  work,  ceaseless  vigil, 
and  many  anxieties  which  have  gone 
before. 

He  feels  his  way  up  the  hedgerow,  till 
he  reaches  the  gateway  giving  into  the 
lane  beyond,  where  he  pauses  to  light  a 
consoling  pipe,  and  is  just  going  to  vault 
the  gate,  when  some  distant  sound  catches 
his  quick  ear,  and  he  stops  to  listen 
under  shelter  of  the  tall  hedge,  while 
the  sun  breaks  through  the  mist,  which 
streams  upward  into  the  still  air  in 
fantastic  wreath  and  swirl. 

Many  a  glimpse  of  the  rarer  sides  of 
wild  life  comes  within  the  keeper's  ken 
as  he  takes  his  walks  abroad,  such  time 
as  most  honest  folks  are  safely  abed. 
This  morning  it  is  the  silver  grey  form 
of  a  badger,  whose  stealthy  approach 
would  have  escaped  the  hearing  of  any 
but  those  whose  habits  of  life  make  them 
almost  uncannily  aware  of  each  rustling 
leaf  and  its  meaning,  and  who  now  passes 


292  PARTRIDGES 

along  the  hedge  with  the  queer  distinctive 
rolling  gait  of  his  race,  homeward  bound 
from  some  midnight  foray.  Though  no 
true  vegetarian  —  and  as  like  as  not  a 
family  of  young  rabbits  have  gone  to 
promote  that  well  -  fed  appearance  he 
presents — still  with  regard  to  game  proper 
he  has  a  fairly  clean  record,  and  the  keeper 
views  him  with  a  lenient  and  comparatively 
friendly  eye,  checking  the  hostile  demon- 
strations— low  growling  and  rising  hackles 
— of  his  dog  with  a  muttered  **Down, 
Nero,  you  fool." 

As  the  mist  rolls  slowly  away,  a  fair 
countryside  comes  into  view.  In  the 
near  foreground  meadows  soaked  and 
glistening  with  dew,  each  bush  and  briar 
covered  with  the  myriad  webs  of  gossamer 
spiders,  delicate  threads  of  lacework 
shining  in  all  the  colours  of  the  rainbow. 
All  around  lies  a  wide  stretch  of  arable 
country,  a  land  of  chalky  fallow  and 
broad  bare  stubbles,  of  copse  and  common, 
heavy  wood  and  rolling  down.  To  the 
west,  where  a  wide-spreading  valley,  green 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY    293 

and  peaceful,  opens  between  the  rising 
downs,  a  long  line  of  grey  willows  and  a 
glimmer  of  diamond-clear  water  bespeak 
the  presence  of  the  historic  Test,  true 
Mecca  of  the  dry-fly  fisherman. 

Beyond  again  rise  the  ridges  and  heaths 
of  the  Forest,  where  Saxon  Thanes  hunted 
the  wolf  and  the  bear  or  ever  Norman 
William  came  to  England,  now  glorious 
in  their  autumn  livery  of  russet  brown 
and  tawny  gold. 

The  old-fashioned  hedge,  under  which 
our  keeper  is  standing — a  tangled  jumble 
of  hazel  and  sloe,  elder  and  hawthorn — 
bends  over  a  winding  green  lane,  where 
bracken  and  briar  encroach  on  the  dis- 
used roadway,  which  leads  with  many 
a  devious  turning  down  the  hill  to  the 
hollow  below,  where  the  old-world  houses 
of  the  little  hamlet,  with  chalk-built  walls, 
timber  frames,  and  quaint  overhanging 
upper  stories,  cluster — each  askew  to  its 
neighbour  —  round  the  brick  and  flint 
tower  of  the  ancient  church. 

Time's  hand  falls  light  on  this  quiet 


294  PARTRIDGES 

backwater  of  life ;  little  change  can  there 
be,  one  would  think,  since  Royalist  and 
Roundhead  camped  and  fought  on  the 
downs  above,  where  a  century  later  the 
youth  of  Hampshire  did  battle  on  the 
earliest  of  cricket  grounds. 

In  the  distance,  a  line  of  blue  hills  tells 
of  a  higher  sweep  of  downland,  though  a 
fleecy  pall  of  mist  still  hangs  over  the 
ancient  capital  of  England  and  hides  the 
towers  and  spires  of  Wykeham  from  view. 

"  I've  seen  worse  days  for  the  job,"  is 
the  keeper's  grudging  acknowledgment 
to  the  clerk  of  the  weather,  as  he  takes 
his  way  down  the  lane,  through  the  silent 
village,  to  where  the  smoke  of  a  hidden 
cottage  rises  behind  a  dark  patch  of  wood 
on  the  ridge  of  down  beyond. 

As  he  follows  the  path  through  the 
wood,  he  stops  for  a  minute  before  a 
gnarled  and  massive  oak,  surveying  with 
a  grim  complacency  the  well  -  filled 
*  larder'  which  adorns  its  trunk.  Many 
a  good  day's  work  has  gone  to  fill  those 
ranks    of    mummies,    hard    and    dry    as 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     295 

specimens    in    a    museum,    for    minute 
*  hoppers'  clean  up  all  the  flesh,  leaving 
only  skins  and  bones.     Stoats  and  weasels 
occupy  the  lower  rows  of  the  collection, 
mere  shrivelled   remnants  to  the  casual 
observer,  yet  serving  to  recall  the  story 
of  their  departure  from  this  life  to  their 
quondam  pursuer.     This  family  of  young 
stoats  met  their  death  while  feasting  on 
the  body  of  their  lately  defunct  mother ; 
that  old  fellow  next  door  was  surprised 
while   engaged    in    deluding   an    unwary 
blackbird  by  turning   somersaults   down 
a  bank,  a  well-directed  shot  bringing  the 
performance   to   a    close.      Above   hang 
lines   of  crows,   magpies,   jackdaws,    and 
sparrow-hawks,  with  a  single  kestrel  who 
developed   an   unhappy  taste   for  young 
pheasants  in  the  rearing  field,   and  was 
reluctantly  condemned,  the  'wind-hovers,' 
as  a  rule,  having  earned  a  clean  bill  of 
health.     A   row   of   cats'   heads,    staring 
hideously  down  on  the  visitor,  complete 
the  tale  of  trophies.     Other   cats   there 
were,  but  they  do  not  figure  here,   nor 


296  PARTRIDGES 

does  any  dog  appear  in  the  collection — 
only  the  observant  might  note  that  the 
keeper's  cabbages  are  of  a  luxuriant 
growth. 

Turning  from  these  silent  witnesses 
of  his  woodcraft,  frantic  demonstrations 
of  joy  from  a  more  youthful  generation 
of  Neros  greet  his  approach ;  the  pink- 
eyed  ferret  looks  expectantly  through  the 
narrow  bars  of  its  hutch,  and  as  he  clicks 
to  the  wicket  gate  behind  him,  and  passes 
through  the  little  garden,  still  bright  with 
dahlias  and  Michaelmas  daisies,  to  his 
neat  cottage  home,  with  its  deep  thatch 
and  pendent  eaves,  a  savoury  smell  of 
cooking  tells  him  that  the  '  missus ' — ever 
mindful  of  his  wants — is  already  up  and 
about  and  will  soon  have  a  heroic  break- 
fast of  bacon  and  potatoes  ready  where- 
with to  comfort  the  inner  man. 

Two  hours  later  the  white-smocked 
beaters  are  tramping  up  the  lane  from  the 
village,  with  many  a  rustic  joke  and  cackle 
of  laughter,  to  open  the  campaign  against 
the  partridges,  who,  little  suspecting  the 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     297 

grim  entertainment  provided  for  them, 
have  just  finished  their  morning  meal  on 
the  stubbles,  and  are  now  contemplating 
a  period  of  peaceful  retirement. 

But  with  all  this  you  have  little  to  do  ; 
the  sun  is  high  up  in  the  heaven  before 
you  can  make  up  your  mind  to  rise, 
betaking  yourself  with  much  splashing 
and  singing  (why  does  every  one,  however 
mute  a  swan  at  other  times,  sing,  whistle, 
or  hum  in  his  bath  ?)  to  the  cold  tub, 
whence  you  presently  emerge  in  a  glow 
of  rude  health  to  don  your  lightest  shoot- 
ing suit — for  a  glance  through  the  open 
window  assures  you  of  a  real  day  of 
Indian  summer — hobnail  shoes  and  spats, 
and  descend  the  carved  oak  staircase  of 
the  old  Jacobean  manor-house  wherein 
you  are  staying.  The  gong  is  just  sound- 
ing for  family  prayers,  but  the  easier 
manners  of  the  present  day  no  longer 
enforce  universal  attendance,  so  you  slip 
out  through  a  side  door,  and  take  a  short 
but  quick  walk  through  the  old-world 
'  pleasaunce,'    where    flaunting    peacocks 


298  PAHTRIDGES 

and  heathen  gods,  cunningly  fashioned  in 
yew,  remain  an  enduring  monument  to 
some  forgotten  professor  of  the  topiary  art. 

The  second  gong  announcing  breakfast 
finds  you  no  laggard  to  its  summons,  for 
you  are  young  and  very  keen  to  hold 
your  own  to-day  with  your  elders  and 
betters,  and  are  feeling  all  the  better  this 
morning  for  having  gone  easy  at  dinner 
and  early  to  bed  last  night,  resisting  the 
insidious  attractions  of  bridge,  and  only 
staying  in  the  smoking-room  long  enough 
to  enjoy  one  modest  pipe,  while  you 
conned  the  pages  of  the  house  game-book 
with  a  view  of  elucidating  the  chances  of 
the  next  day.  Breakfast  over,  you  fetch 
your  retriever  from  the  stables,  where  he 
has  been  housed,  and  join  the  rest  of  the 
party  on  the  lawn.  Places  are  drawn, 
and  you  find  that  yours  is  an  outside 
number — no  bad  thing,  for  it  will  give 
you  a  chance  of  finding  your  form  before 
undertaking  more  serious  business  in  the 
centre  of  the  line. 

Ten  minutes  in  a  well-appointed  car 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY    299 

takes  you  to  the  scene  of  action,  and  soon 
the  straggling  procession  of  guns,  loaders, 
and  keepers  are  making  their  way  across 
a  broad  meadow  towards  the  row  of  pegs 
that  marks  the  line  for  the  first  drive. 
**The  drivers  ain't  round  yet,  so  there's 
no  hurry,"  says  your  host,  as  he  points 
you  out  your  place ;  but  you  are  very 
conscious  that  your  chances  as  an  outside 
gun  may  well  be  few  and  far  between, 
and  that  the  odd  bird  or  covey  that  the 
drivers  may  disturb  on  their  way  round 
are  by  no  means  to  be  despised.  So  you 
make  your  arrangements  without  further 
delay ;  your  servant,  an  expert  loader, 
crouching  behind  you,  and  your  dog  com- 
fortably settled  some  ten  yards  off,  where 
he  may  be  relied  on  to  sit  like  a  statue 
till  his  turn  for  action  comes.  You  give 
your  guns  a  look  over  before  they  are 
loaded,  slip  a  few  cartridges  into  your 
own  pocket — just  in  case  any  hitch  occurs 
in  the  loading — and  balanced  on  your 
shooting  stick  all  ready  for  action,  proceed 
to  take  your  bearings. 


300  PARTRIDGES 

Thirty  yards  in  front  of  you  rises  the 
tall  dense  hedge  that  the  guns  are  lining  ; 
your  place  is  on  the  left  of  the  six  guns, 
and  between  you  and  your  neighbour 
the  tops  of  a  row  of  stunted  hedgerow 
trees  are  just  visible,  marking  the  dividing 
line  of  the  turnips  which  are  going  to  be 
driven,  and  the  stubble  which  you  cannot 
see,  but  know  to  be  in  your  immediate 
front. 

Your  vigilance  is  soon  rewarded.  The 
other  guns  are  still  chatting  with  their 
neighbours,  when  a  low  whistle  from  the 
front  makes  you  jump  up  from  your  seat, 
shove  up  the  safety  bolt  of  your  Purdey, 
and  stand  scanning  your  limited  horizon, 
your  left  hand  well  down  the  barrels  and 
the  butt  resting  on  your  thigh.  Five 
seconds  later  and  the  first  covey  of  the 
day  streams  over  the  fence  twenty  yards 
to  your  right.  The  two  nearest  birds 
cross  as  they  come  into  sight,  and  a  lucky 
or  clever  shot  brings  them  both  down 
together — a  miss  with  the  left  barrel — too 
far  back  as  usual — a  good  recovery  with 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     301 

the  second  gun  as  the  same  bird  swings 
round  behind — and  you  feel  that  the  day 
has  begun  well,  for  here  you  are,  three 
birds  to  the  good,  and  the  other  guns  only 
now  hurrying  to  their  places. 

Soon  the  faint  blast  of  a  horn  an- 
nounces that  the  drivers  have  started, 
and  though  nothing  comes  your  way,  the 
centre  guns  are  soon  hard  at  work,  each 
covey — and  there  are  many — paying  due 
toll  for  its  passage.  Having  nothing  to 
occupy  your  attention,  you  find  it  a 
pleasure  to  watch  the  'professors'  at 
work.  Their  accuracy  does  not  seem  so 
surprising — you  can  hold  a  gun  fairly 
straight  yourself — but  the  pace  they  do  it 
at  does  strike  you  as  wonderful.  No  signs 
of  fluster  or  flurry,  yet  they  are  shooting 
three  birds  where  you  couldn't  fire  at 
more  than  two,  and  killing  them  cleanly 
withal,  just  a  tiny  pufF  of  the  neck 
feathers  to  show  that  the  bird  has  it  in 
the  right  place.  Occasionally  a  single 
bird  turns  from  the  shooting  and  gives 
you  an  opportunity  of  wiping  some  one's 


302  PARTRIDGES 

eye  as  it  skims  along  the  top  of  the  hedge, 
or  turns  away  back  into  the  drive — the 
latter  always  a  difficult  bird  to  stop. 

A  cock  pheasant — first  of  the  season — 
that  rises  some  way  down  the  cross  fence 
is  a  real  good  bird  by  the  time  he  gets  to 
you,  and  two  more  single  and  simple 
partridges  from  the  corner  of  the  turnips 
are  all  that  fall  to  your  lot  before  the 
swish  of  the  flags  just  the  other  side  of 
the  fence  tells  you  that  the  first  drive  is 
over.  Keepers,  loaders,  and  guns  are 
soon  scattered  about  the  meadow  picking 
up  the  slain,  so  you  see  both  your  guns 
unloaded,  pick  up  the  half-dozen  birds 
that  are  lying  in  the  open,  send  the  two 
that  your  neighbour  nearly  dropped  on 
your  head  to  be  added  to  his  little  pile, 
and  try  your  dog  down  the  fence  for  that 
bird  which  may  well  be  a  runner.  The 
scent  is  still  bad  after  the  heavy  dew, 
and  it  is  ten  minutes  before  *  Nelson '  runs 
the  fugitive  to  ground  fifty  yards  away. 
You  have  still  a  brace  more  in  the 
turnips,  which  you  collect  from  the  keeper 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     303 

who  has  picked  them,  return  your 
modest  score  to  the  man  with  the  card, 
and  are  ready  to  be  off  by  the  time 
your  host's  reminder,  "  This  way,  guns, 
please,"  is  heard  from  the  far  end  of 
the  field. 

The  second  drive  is  not  so  prolific,  for 
which  you  are  not  altogether  sorry, 
because  the  birds  are  being  brought  in 
from  the  boundary ;  and  to  make  sure  of 
their  coming  on,  the  guns  are  placed 
rather .  closer  up  to  a  high  fence  than  is 
conducive  to  comfort  in  shooting.  Half 
an  hour  later  you  are  taking  your  place 
as  No.  4  in  a  valley  which  looks  as  if  it 
had  been  made  for  the  express  purpose  of 
driving  partridges  over.  With  a  thrill  of 
pleasurable  excitement,  you  realize  that 
this  is  the  famous  'valley  of  death'- — 
the  most  killing  drive  on  one  of  the  finest 
partridge  beats  in  England. 

First,  you  choose  a  good  level  stand 
on  the  close  smooth  turf,  see  that  your 
loader  has  got  card  and  pencil  handy — 
this  may  well   be   a   big   drive   for   you, 


304  PARTRIDGES 

when  it  will  be  important  to  keep  close 
account  of  how  many  birds  you  have 
down,  and  it  is  no  light  task  to  keep  the 
score  in  your  head  when  the  fun  is  fast 
and  furious — and  then  take  measure  of 
your  surroundings. 

The  steep  chalk  bank  rising  in  front 
of  you,  fragrant  with  thyme  and  gorse, 
is  crowned  by  an  overgrown  hedge  of 
thorn  and  hazel,  tangled  with  briar  and 
bracken,  now  bright  with  trailing  wreaths 
of  briony  and  ripe  berries  of  hawthorn 
and  elder.  Birds  topping  the  fence 
would  be  too  far  out  to  take  at  once — 
you  decide  to  let  them  come  well  over 
you  before  shooting.  Otherwise  all 
seems  plain  sailing,  every  bird  must  be 
a  real  'archangel,'  to  be  taken  at  your 
favourite  angle,  without  having  to  think 
where  your  neighbours  are. 

The  lazy  caw  of  a  rook,  a  far-away 
tinkling  of  sheep-bells,  the  drowsy  hum 
of  bees  about  your  feet,  and  the  echo  of 
a  distant  horn  which  tells  you  that  the 
beaters  are  off,  are  the  only  sounds  that 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     305 

break   the  hot  stillness  of  this   glorious 
autumn  morning. 

A  flight  of  fieldfares  and  larks  heralds 
the  start  of  the  drive,  and  you  pace  them 
with  your  gun  to  get  some  freedom  into 
your  swing.  A  single  Frenchman  follows, 
crossing  the  valley  straight  as  a  die — an 
easy  opening  of  which  you  duly  avail 
yourself,  taking  him  well  out  in  front, 
and  giving  him  a  good  lead  with  the 
gun.  A  sprinkling  of  other  birds  begins 
to  bring  the  other  guns  into  play,  and  the 
crackle  of  musketry  soon  becomes  general. 
Presently  a  big  lot — three  or  four  coveys 
packed  together — which  has  tried  vainly 
to  force  the  flanks  of  the  drive,  comes 
swinging  down  the  line  from  the  right. 
They  are  well  strung  out,  and  here,  if 
ever,  is  a  good  chance  of  killing  your 
four.  Unluckily  your  neighbour's  last 
bird  only  misses  your  head  by  a  foot, 
giving  you  a  bad  start — for  your  first 
bird  is  missed  by  yards  in  consequence ; 
you  grip  your  gun  if  anything  a  little 
tighter,  and  make  no  mistake  about  the 

20 


306  PARTRIDGES 

other  three,  each  in  turn  making  a  little 
somersault  as  it  passes  overhead,  to  fall 
dead  on  the  turf  behind. 

For  the  next  ten  minutes  partridges 
stream  over,  and  you  settle  down  to  the 
work  ;  your  loader  is  quick  and  handy, 
clever  at  reaching  the  gun  well  forward 
into  your  hand — there  is  no  fumbling 
with  cartridges  or  mishaps  in  changing 
guns.  Your  eye  is  well  in,  and  though 
you  miss  a  few,  most  of  your  shots  are 
followed  by  a  pleasant  thud  on  the  turf 
behind.  Before  the  beaters  are  in,  your 
barrels  are  burning  hot,  and  you  are 
glad  to  slip  on  a  glove  to  protect  your 
left  hand. 

But  the  best  of  things  must  have  an 
end ;  the  stream  of  birds  slackens  and 
then  stops.  The  beaters  come  into 
sight  on  the  top  of  the  bank,  and  the 
drive  of  your  life  is  over.  Forty -five 
partridges  and  half-a-dozen  pheasants 
form  your  contribution  to  the  total,  in 
killing  which  you  have  used  just  over 
seventy  cartridges — no  bad  proportion,  for 


OLD  MICHAELMAS  DAY     307 

you  took  them  as  they  came,  taking  no 
thought  about  your  average.  Luncheon 
and  the  ladies  await  you  by  the  red- 
roofed  barn,  clustered  round  with  yellow- 
brown  ricks,  sheltering  in  the  hollow  at 
the  foot  of  the  valley  ;  and  thither  you 
betake  yourself,  after  seeing  your  full 
tally  of  slain  safely  stowed  in  the  game 
van. 

Good  sport  again  in  the  afternoon, 
till  the  evening  shadows  lengthen  on  the 
autumfi  stubbles,  and  it  is  time  to  turn 
homewards.  After  immemorial  custom, 
the  bag  is  spread  out  on  the  lawn,  and 
though  you  are  no  glutton  for  slaughter 
as  a  rule,  you  cannot  for  once  help  feeling 
well  pleased  when  you  think  that  the 
whole  of  one  of  those  six  rows  may  fairly 
be  claimed  as  your  share.  Fifty  brace 
to  your  own  gun — a  right  good  score 
made  by  close  attention  to  business  and 
fair  shooting. 


CHAPTER  X 

STATISTICAL 

Some  records  in   Britain — Partridges  abroad — Austria, 
Hungary,  and  Belgium. 

Inseparably  connected  with  any  real 
interest  in  such  shooting  as  you  may  be 
fortunate  enough  to  possess,  is  a  pardon- 
able pride  in  the  results  of  your  labours, 
as  figured  in  the  columns  of  your  game- 
book.  Yet  while  the  records  of  your 
shooting  cannot  be  disregarded  altogether 
— lies  not  the  proof  of  the  pudding  in 
the  eating  thereof? — at  the  same  time, 
their  pursuit  is  fraught  with  danger, 
insidious  danger  that  the  mens  sana  in 
corpore  sano — to  the  furtherance  of  which 
admirable  balance  all  our  field  sports 
should  tend,  else  they  are  without  purpose 

308 


STATISTICAL  309 

— may  become  tainted  by  such  mania  as 
besets  the  collector. 

So  long  as  your  interest  in  figures 
remains  subjective,  so  long  as  it  is  but 
an  honest  feeling  of  satisfaction  that 
your  science  and  skill  have  not  been 
applied  in  vain,  all  is  well ;  but,  alas, 
from  that  happy  state  it  is  but  a  step,  or 
rather  a  gradation  of  almost  imperceptible 
steps,  to  the  objective  interest,  the  desire 
to  outshine  your  neighbours,  the  longing 
to  hold  or  break  the  record  for  your 
county  or  country. 

To  what  divergent  lengths  these 
different  points  of  view  may  lead  from 
the  unnoticed  parting  of  the  ways,  let 
the  sport  on  two  great  estates  serve  as 
instance.  Both  can  show  great  store  of 
partridges,  both  fail  to  make  the  best 
use  of  them,  but  after  what  different 
fashion. 

On  the  first,  the  shooting  is  a  leisurely 
business ;  it  extends  over  many  weeks, 
and  gives  pleasure  to  many.  It  is  a 
friendly  and  hospitable  affair ;  the  guests 


310  PARTRIDGES 

are  the  friends  of  the  family,  and  guns 
are  asked  because  they  are  liked,  with 
small  regard  to  their  prowess  in  the 
field.  Here  the  keepers  have  strict 
instructions  never  to  reveal  the  bag,  and 
no  reference  to  figures  is  allowed. 

On  the  second  estate,  a  vast  tract 
of  country  is  devoted  to  the  great  driving 
week;  the  guns  are  semi-professional, 
and  are  there  solely  on  business ;  even 
the  ladies  are  banished  for  the  week, 
lest  their  disturbing  influence  should  put 
some  one  out  of  form. 

The  diet  and  drink  of  this  artillery — 
for  so  one  is  inclined  to  speak  of  the 
guests — are  strictly  regulated ;  they  are 
packed  off  to  bed  soon  after  sunset,  and 
are  in  position  for  the  first  drive  of 
the  morning  before  the  sun  has  risen. 
The  score  of  each  gun  is  carefully  kept, 
and  his  merits  tested  like  those  of  a  new 
quick  firer ;  the  business  of  the  week 
is  to  kill  more  partridges  than  any  one 
else  does  in  the  same  time,  and  to  that 
end  all  else  is  subservient. 


STATISTICAL  311 

Somewhere  between  these  extremes 
lies  the  right  use  of  a  shooting — media 
tutissimus  ibis.  For  while  any  element 
of  professionalism  should  be  shunned,  and 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  your  friends  under 
your  roof  be  allowed  considerable  voice 
in  the  matter,  at  the  same  time  it  is  a 
good  thing  if  the  guns  you  take  out 
shooting  are  able  to  acquit  themselves 
creditably  in  the  field  without  too  much 
missing,  or,  worse  still,  'tinkering'  of 
your  birds.  For  there  are  some  guns 
who  seem  to  shoot  most  consistently, 
and  always  the  best  part  of  a  foot  too 
far  back ;  the  number  of  birds  these 
gentlemen  can  contrive  to  wound  and 
lose,  both  to  the  bag  and  to  the  ground, 
is  something  surprising.  If  you  have 
pheasants  in  your  woods,  the  problem 
is  somewhat  simplified ;  you  can  then 
ask  those  of  your  friends  who  shoot  best 
to  drive  your  partridges,  and  the  in- 
different performers  to  the  covert  shoot, 
where  they  will  enjoy  themselves  quite 
as  much,  with  a  good  gun  behind  them 


312  PARTRIDGES 

to  take  the  high  ones  they  miss,  and  stop 
the  low  ones  they  hit  but  fail  to  kill 

Settle  the  question  as  you  may,  you 
can  depend  on  one  fact,  that  if  you  are 
never  at  any  pains  to  collect  a  decent 
team  of  guns  for  partridge-driving,  either 
individually  good,  or  else  with  a  flier  or 
two  in  the  party  to  do  the  work  and 
'nurse'  his  neighbours,  you  will  find  it 
very  hard  to  keep  your  keepers  up  to  the 
mark. 

When  a  man  has  worked  really  hard 
for  months,  it  must  be  a  trial  to  see  his 
efforts  wasted,  for  a  keeper  can  only 
measure  the  success  of  a  day  by  the 
result.  To  see  the  birds  he  is  at  such 
trouble  to  bring  well  over  the  guns  pass- 
ing on  unscathed,  and  guns  light-heartedly 
chatting  at  critical  moments,  and  not 
entering  at  all  seriously  into  the  business 
of  the  day,  is  enough  to  take  the  heart 
out  of  any  man,  and  slackness  and  bad 
work  on  the  part  of  the  guns  is  likely 
enough  to  breed  slackness  and  bad  work 
on  the  part  of  the  keepers. 


STATISTICAL  313 

It  is  a  common  charge  against  modern 
sportsmen  that  they  are  insatiate  in 
slaughter,  and  that  there  is  no  reason 
why  they  should  want  to  kill  ten  times 
as  much  as  their  forebears.  Let  it  be  at 
once  admitted  that  there  is  a  class  who 
only  go  out  to  get  their  guns  off,  who 
would  rather  shoot  ten  hand-reared  ducks 
let  out  of  hampers  than  the  same  number 
of  wild  ones,  if  the  former  only  gave 
better  shots,  and  who  are  generally 
different  in  every  respect  from  the  old 
stamp  of  sportsmen.  But  set  aside  this 
class — chiefly  men  of  business  or  fashion 
— and  take  the  men  who  own  or  lease 
the  shootings  where  the  big  totals  are 
made :  you  will  find  them  as  willing  as 
any  one  to  take  part  in  days  of  hard  work 
for  small  result,  only  they  have  a  marked 
predilection  for  seeing  things  well  done. 
It  is  not  killing  only  30  brace  in  a  day's 
driving  that  bores  them ;  it  is  the  fact, 
patent  to  their  experienced  eye,  that 
with  good  management  double  and  treble 
the   number  of  birds   should  have  been 


314  PARTRIDGES 

brought  to  the  guns.  So  when  they  have 
their  organized  days,  they  are  organized 
to  some  purpose,  which  means  another 
heavy  total  marked  up  against  them  by 
their  critics,  but  when  they  have  an  off- 
day's  marauding  they  will  be  found  will- 
ing to  work  as  hard  as  any  one  to  kill 
a  dozen  head. 

The  practice  of  scientific  game  pre- 
servation, with  its  attendant  increase  in 
results,  was  firmly  established  on  the 
Continent  a  hundred  years  before  it  found 
any  foothold  in  England.  Indeed  the 
whole  idea  of  organized  shoots  was  quite 
misunderstood  in  this  country ;  the 
popular  idea  was  that  the  game  from 
miles  away  was  all  collected  in  nets,  and 
that  the  heavy  totals  recorded  were 
nothing  but  "a  wanton  registry  of 
slaughter  such  as  no  sportsman  can  read 
without  regret " — a  totally  erroneous  con- 
clusion, for  where  game  can  by  scientific 
methods  be  induced  to  increase,  there  can 
surely  be  no  reasonable  objection  to  there 
being  plenty  of  it. 


STATISTICAL  315 

So  long  ago  as  the  year  1753,  the 
Emperor  of  Austria  and  twenty-two  other 
guns,  shooting  in  Bohemia,  killed  47,950 
head  in  twenty  days,  of  which  19,545 
were  partridges,  while  at  Lichtenstein  in 
Saxony  it  is  duly  recorded  in  the  sporting 
magazines  of  the  day — though  it  is  almost 
too  much  to  ask  any  one  to  believe  it — 
that  in  October  1797,  39,000  head  of 
game  were  killed  in  fourteen  hours'  shoot- 
ing, chiefly  hares  and  partridges.  History 
records  neither  the  number  nor  the  names 
of  the  guns  who  took  part  in  this  in- 
credible performance. 

There  is  an  early  German  record  of 
1201  partridges  killed  in  two  days'  shoot- 
ing, in  all  3258  head  besides  a  variety  of 
small  game,  the  date  1788,  and  a  special 
note  to  the  effect  that  all  the  birds  were 
shot  on  the  wing.  About  the  same  time 
the  King  of  Naples  and  Sir  William 
Hamilton  are  credited  with  a  bag  of  320 
brace,  locality  unspecified,  though  pre- 
sumably in  the  royal  preserves. 

In  France,   the  carefully  kept  game- 


316  PARTRIDGES 

books  of  Chantilly,  home  of  the  great 
family  of  Cond^,  near  Paris,  form  a 
wonderful  record  of  sport.  In  the  sum- 
mary it  is  duly  entered  that  between  the 
years  1747  and  1778  S.A.R.  M.  le  Prince 
de  Conde  killed  65,524  head ;  while 
a  tragic  figure  in  history  is  brought  to 
mind  by  the  touching  little  footnote 
which  adds  with  scrupulous  accuracy 
'*that  the  nine  pieces  of  game  killed  by 
the  late  Prince's  grandson,  the  Due 
D'Enghien,  were  all  rabbits." 

The  best  day  at  Chantilly  seems  to 
have  been  the  7th  of  October  1785, 
when  the  two  Princes  de  Conde,  the 
Prince  Conti,  and  twelve  other  guns 
killed  2580  partridges  and  1500  hares. 
In  thirty  years,  1748-79,  the  game-books 
show  a  total  of  117,574  grey  partridges 
and  12,426  redlegs. 

Against  such  totals  as  these  our  best 
records  in  these  islands  must  pale. 

Not  till  a  hundred  years  later  can  we 
produce  any  results  of  organized  shooting 
which  will   bear   comparison  at  all.     In 


STATISTICAL  317 

1858  and  1859,  314  and  352  brace  respec- 
tively were  killed  by  eight  guns  walking 
in  line  at  Buckenham  in  Norfolk,  the 
shooters  all  using  muzzle-loaders. 

Ten  years  later,  still  walking  in  line, 
8885  and  3308  partridges  were  the  totals 
of  two  successive  years  at  Holkham, 
which  twenty  years  later  again,  in  1885 
and  1887,  were  increased  to  8100  and 
7512,  driving  by  then  being  firmly  estab- 
lished. 

Shooting  at  Elveden  on  September  8, 
1876,  the  Maharajah  Dhuleep  Singh  killed 
780  partridges  to  his  own  gun,  a  record 
which  seems  likely  to  stand  the  test  of 
time. 

In  the  world  of  driving,  Lord  Ash- 
burton  with  five  other  guns  killed  1458 
partridges  on  November  4,  1897,  at  the 
Grange  in  Hampshire ;  the  Duke  of 
Portland  1478  partridges  in  one  day  at 
Welbeck  Abbey  in  Notts  in  1906,  his 
neighbour,  Mr.  W.  Hollins,  killing  1500 
partridges  one  day  the  same  year ;  while 
at   Holkham   in    1905,   a   total   of   1671 


318  PARTRIDGES 

partridges,  killed  off  2000  acres  in  twenty 
drives  to  eight  guns,  remains  the  best  day 
on  record. 

Outside  Great  Britain  there  is  fair 
partridge-shooting  in  Northern  Europe. 
In  Germany  the  usual  method  is  to  shoot 
over  a  dog — a  versatile  animal  who,  to 
quote  Baron  Schonberg, 

must  act  as  bloodhound  on  the  trail  of  a  wounded 
roe  in  summer,  retrieve  ducks  in  the  water,  and 
act  as  a  spaniel  for  woodcock  and  snipe.  In 
September  he  must  take  no  notice  whatever  of 
hares,  while  two  months  later  he  must  hunt  down 
all  wounded  hares  and  retrieve  them  without 
noticing  partridges. 

Ninety  brace  have  been  shot  by  one 
gun  over  dogs,  and  at  Gross  Strehlitz 
Count  Renard  has  killed  300  brace  by 
driving. 

In  the  rich  cultivated  plains  of  Flanders, 
Brabant  and  Hainault,  Belgian  sportsmen 
shoot  their  partridges  over  dogs,  50 
brace  to  a  single  gun  not  being  unknown. 
In  Holland  the  partridges  suffer  rather 
an  ignominious  fate,  their  eggs — together 
with  those  of  every  other  bird,  rare  and 


-  STATISTICAL  319 

common  alike — being  eagerly  sought  for 
by  the  economical  Dutchman  as  a  cheap 
form  of  food. 

In  modern  France  there  is  partridge- 
shooting  of  the  best,  where  game  is  in  any 
way  preserved ;  in  September  1898,  on 
the  vast  plains  of  Beauce,  between  Orleans 
and  Chartres,  twenty  guns  accounted  for 
3000  partridges  in  two  days'  shooting  over 
only  four  or  five  farms. 

The  grand  hunts  in  Portugal,  where 
every  species  of  game  from  a  wolf  to  a 
titlark  figures  in  the  bag,  would  possess 
certain  novel  features  to  any  of  us  who 
are  only  accustomed  to  our  own  days  of 
tamer  sport.  The  Count  D'Arnoso  thus 
describes  the  procedure : 

As  a, rule  Sunday  is  selected,  so  that  a  greater 
number  of  people  may  take  part  in  the  hunt. 
All  armed,  they  form  a  large  circle,  covering  a 
great  extent  of  ground.  The  circle  gradually 
contracts.  The  proprietors  of  the  land  and  the 
best  shots  wait  at  the  point  on  which  the  circle 
will  converge,  and  where  the  drive  will  therefore 
terminate.  Occasionally,  only  after  some  hours' 
driving,  is  there  heard  an  indistinct  and  distant 
noise,  which  gradually  and  slowly  increasing  as 


320  PARTRIDGES 

the  driving  approaches,  when  close  at  hand 
becomes  deafening.  Any  small  game  that  may 
appear  is  shot  only  when  the  drive  is  near  its 
end.  Then  the  firing  is  tremendous,  shots  cross- 
ing in  every  direction,  the  noise  of  which,  in 
conjunction  with  the  shouting  of  the  hunters, 
gives  one  the  idea  of  a  fierce  battle. 

With  His  Majesty  I  once  took  part  in  one, 
and  it  seemed  as  if  we,  instead  of  taking  part  in 
a  simple  hunt,  were  the  victims  of  a  tremendous 
attack.  And  yet  these  hundreds  of  men  that 
surrounded  us,  while  shooting,  some  in  the  direc- 
tion of  our  feet,  others  almost  at  our  heads,  and 
trying  to  kill  foxes,  rabbits,  or  partridges,  all 
shouted  enthusiastically,  "Long  live  our  King!" 
Viva  0  nosso  Rei !  ^ 

The  Count's  remarks  on  the  Portuguese 
dogs  seem  also  to  merit  reproduction. 

In  unenclosed  lands,  partridges  are  shot  over 
greyhounds,  of  which  there  is  a  very  good  breed 
in  Portugal.  More  than  once  I  have  been  out 
shooting  with  a  priest  living  near  the  house  of 
Pindella.  He  had  a  dog  which  he  had  taught 
to  tell  by  the  movement  of  its  muzzle  the  exact 
number  of  partridges  that  it  saw  before  it.  A 
splendid  dog ! 

On  the  fertile  plains  of  Austria  and 
Hungary,  where  vast  expanses  of  millet 

^  Sport  in  Europe,  1901. 


STATISTICAL  321 

and  maize  favour  abundance  of  game,  the 
official  returns  show  that  close  on  a 
million  and  a  half  partridges  are  annually 
killed.  Walking  in  line,  with  a  drive 
when  the  occasional  fence  is  reached,  is 
the  usual  method  adopted. 

The  late  Baron  Hirsch  managed  the 
shooting  of  his  vast  estates  on  such  a 
lavish  scale  as  has  never  been  attempted 
elsewhere.  In  1893  his  picked  team  of 
guns  killed  close  on  50,000  partridges  in 
six  weeks'  shooting,  Lord  de  Grey  on 
one  occasion  having  240  birds  down  in 
one  drive.  On  Count  Karolyi's  estates 
at  Tot  Megyer  ten  guns  killed  10,000 
partridges  in  ten  days,  walking  in  line, 
while  in  Bohemia  a  total  of  4000  part- 
ridges killed  in  a  single  day  on  the  estates 
of  Prince  Auersberg  some  years  ago 
seems  never  to  have  been  since  equalled. 

In  the  course  of  my  inquiries  about 
shooting  in  Austria,  a  circular  came  to 
hand,  emanating  from  a  **  Bureau  fur 
Jagd  -  Commissionen  "  in  Vienna,  which 
though   it  offered  but  little    information 

21 


322  PARTRIDGES 

about  partridges,  yet  seems  to  provide 
such  quaint  sport  in  the  form  of  ''hunts 
exclusively  conducted  by  home-born  expert 
personality,''  that  I  cannot  refrain  from 
giving  a  sample  here. 

Hunting  Excursions  B.  Hunting  for  black- 
game  and  other  beasts  of  prey  on  lordly  estate 
in  Neutra  -  Comitat,  Hungary.  Sitting  in  the 
ambush  and  beating.  Very  good  arrangement. 
3-4  days. 

A.  Partridge  shootings  on  a  clerical  estate  in 
the  plains  of  the  Danube.  Splendid  fowlings,  then 
pheasant -huntings,  deer -stalking,  and  shooting 
from  a  hiding-place.  Hunting  for  big  roe-bucks. 
Also  reduced  shootings  of  geese,  bustardt,  and 
hares.     Stay  8-10  days. 

For  those  who  seek  variety  these  ex- 
cursions would  seem  to  possess  many 
novel  and  attractive  features. 


INDEX 


Accurate  shooting',  a  possible 
aid  to,  236 

Bantams   as   foster-mothers, 

113 
Beaters  and  picking  up,  273 
clappers  for,  267-2G8 
generous  treatment  of,  ad- 
visable, 268-269 
management  of,  267 
smocks  for,  269 
Blackadder  estate,  notes  from, 

142-143 
Buckwheat,    cultivation     of, 

129-130 
"Bushing"  fields,  101 

Carnegie,  Mr.,  quoted,  201 

Cats,  196 

Chantilly,   records   of,    315- 

316 
Charterhall      estate,      notes 

from,  139-141 
Copsey,  Mr.  S.   H.,  quoted, 

194 
Country  districts,  welfare  of, 

often    '  dependent      on 

sport,  8 
Crow,  carrion,  196 
Crows,  hooded,  198 

Dead   game,   necessary   care 
in  transport  of,  273-274 
Dogs,  poaching,  203 


Eggs,  artificial,  109-110 
enormous  number  of  stolen 

imported,  113 
Elvedon,     new     systems     of 

preservation  commenced 

at,  132 
Euston    system,    advantages 

of,  110-111 
invention  of,  108-109 
methods  of,  109-110 
objects  of,  109 
Mr.  Pearson  Gregory  and, 

108-109 
surest     remedy     for     fox 

troubles,  107 

Field  Sports  and  Game  Guild, 

113 
Field     Trials     Associations, 

good  influence  of,  228 
Firing   long   shots,   condem- 
nation of,  208-210 
Fountains,     drinking,      111- 

112 
Foxes,  devices  to  save  nests 
from,  104-107 
question  of,  102 
French  partridges  and  driv- 
ing, 30-31 
"  French  System,"  137 
best  adaptation  of,  122-123 
demerits  of,  121-122 
details  of,  118-120 

323  21  a 


324 


PARTRIDGES 


^'French  System/'  invention 
of,  118 
merits  of,  120-121 

Gamekeeper,  importance  of, 
early  training  of,  87-88 
relations  to  his  master,  94 
Gamekeepers,  allowances  of, 
92-9» 
change  in  race  of,  179 
relations  with  farmers,  100 
work     of,     on     partridge 
ground,  89-91  et  seq. 
Game  laws,  probable  security 

of,  9-12 
Glengarry,    list    of    ^^ermin 

trapped  at,  179-181 
Gordonstoun     estate,     notes 
from,  136-138 

Half-mooning,  advantages  of, 
222-224 
importance   of  system    in, 
224 

Hand  -  reared  birds,  short- 
comings of,  117 

Hand-rearing,  disadvantages 
of,  IK) 
limited  profitalde  adoption 
of,  116-117 

Hawker,  Col.  Peter,  quota- 
tion from  diary  of,  66-69 

Hawkins,  Mr.,  device  of,  at 
hatching  time,  114 

Hazel  hen,  the,  22-24 

Hedgehog,  Mr.  T.  G.  Millais 
in  defence  of  the,  192 

Hedgeliogs,  95,  192 

Hoo  Estate,  the,  notes  from, 
171-173 

Hungarians,  137,  138,  140, 
142,  144,  148,  150,  156, 
159,  162,  166,  169,  171, 
173,  174 


Hungarians,    as    agents     in 

changing  blood,  127 
care   requisite    in    dealing 

with,  124-125 
marking  for  identification, 

326-127 
method   of  turning  down, 

125-126 
question  of  introduction  of, 

123-124 
Hungary,  vermin  killing  in, 

181-182 

Ideal  estate,  cultivation  on, 
83 

good  neighbours  round,  81 

keepers  on,  84 

lie  of  ground,  81 

nesting  ground  on,  83-84 

size  of,  81 

soil  of,  82 
Incubator,  114 

Jackdaw,  196 

Jay,  199 

Jones,  Mr.  Owen,  on  keeper- 
ing as  a  profession,  86- 
87,  93 
quoted,  200 

Keepers'     Benefit     Society, 

237-238 
Kestrel,  201-202 
Kite,      shooting      partridges 

under  a,  231 

Logan    estate,    notes    from, 
143-146 

Magpie,  198 

Malmesbury,   third   Earl   of, 
as  a  sportsman,  65 


INDEX 


325 


Matches,  Captain  Ross   and 
Colonel  Anson,  71-74 
England  v.  Scotland,  75-78 
heavy  betting-  on,  71 

Maxwell,  Sir  William,  ac- 
count of  England  v. 
Scotland  match  by,  74- 
78 

Merlin,  202 

Millet,  Hungarian  cultivation 
of,  130-131 

Modern  preservation,  the 
growth  and  ethics  of, 
313-314 

Nesting   records,    maps    for, 

97-98 
Nesting  season,  work  in  the, 

96 
Nests,  system  of  management 

of,  99 
visiting,  98 
Novice  in  shooting  field,  right 

training  of,  213-215 

Orwell  Park,  notes  from,  173- 

174 
Owls,  202-203 

Partridge,  common,  differ- 
ences between  young  and 
old,  36 

as  a  migrant,  33 

cookery  of,  53-60 

diseases  liable  to,  49 

distinguishing  characters 
of  sexes,  34-36 

life  history  of,  39-48 

longevity  of,  52 

natural  distribution  af- 
fected by  preservation, 
32-33 

varieties  of,  36-37 
^'Partridge  disease," the,  50- 
52 


Partridge   drive,   description 

of,  289-307 
Partridge-driving,  273 
a  high  art,  239-240 
as   an   agent   in  changing 

blood,  244 
back  flanking,  271 
beaters,  using  two  sets  of, 

266 
British  records  of,  817-318 
compared  with  grouse-driv- 
ing, 241-244 
compared  with  walking  in 

line,  216-218 
cost  of,  289 
details  of  arranging,  259- 

263 
difficulties  incident  to,  263- 

266 
difficulties  of  placing  line 

of  guns,  251-252 
distances     between    guns, 

251-252 
duties  of  guns,  277-278 
early  instances  of,  240 
examples  and  diagrams  of, 

274-280 
fallacies   concerning,    281- 

284 
flanking,  269-272 
ground  best  suited  for,  248- 

249 
how    far    beneficial    to    a 

shooting,  242 
importance  of  marking  out 

stands  for  guns,  257-258 
lie  of  ground  important  in 

fixing  position   of  guns, 

259-260 
method   of   planning   out, 

249-250 
ordered  sequence  of  drives, 

266-267 
picking  up,  272 


326 


PARTRIDGES 


Partridge  -  driving-,   portable 
shelters  for,  258-256 

summary  of  rules  regulat- 
ing successful  conduct  of, 
285-288 

wattled    hurdles   as  butts, 
256 
Partridge  preservation,  diffi- 
culty   of      formulating 
rules  about,  134 
Partridge,  range  of  common, 

82 
Partridge  -  shooting     as     a 
national  asset,  6 

comparative  cost  of,  210- 
211 

cost  on  a  small  scale,  211- 
212 

early  records  of,  31 5 

in  France,  319 

in  Germany,  818 

in  Hungary,  321-322 

in  Portugal,  319-820 
Partridge,   the   French,    26- 
80 

the  Lerwa,  18 

roast,  no  improvement  pos- 
sible on,  54-56 
Partridges    and    politics,    1 
et  seq. 

foreign  species,  possible  in- 
troduction of,  24-25 

hand-rearing  of,  113 

notes  on  foreign  species 
turned  down  at  Woburn 
Abbey,  25-26 

on  grass  lands,  129 

suffer  from  clogged  feet  on 
clay  soils,  52 

the  snow,  19-20 
Patshull  estate,  notes  from, 

149-152 
Perdix  harhata,  21-22 

7nontana,  37-89 


Perdrix  a  la  mode  d' Alcantara, 
58 
aux  choux,  56-57 

Peregrine  falcon,  199-200 

Pickenham  Hall,  notes  from, 
154-158 

Pine  marten,  the,  189 

Pointer,  best  type  of,  for 
utility,  227 
disuse  of  partridge-shoot- 
ing, 225 
scope  for  profitable  employ- 
ment of,  under  modern 
conditions,  226 

Polecat,  the,  189 

Pole  trap,  205 

Politicians,  ill  -  considered 
utterances  of,  about 
sport,  1  et  seq. 

Poultry  on  stubbles,  203 

Preston  Hall,  notes  from, 
188-139 

Rat,  188-190 

agent  in  spreading  disease, 

188 
fecundity  of,  185 
game    preserves    responsi- 
bility for,  186-187 
means   of   destruction    of, 

206-207 
strange  toleration  of,  185- 

186 
the  black,  189 
the  brown,  189 
Rat    question.    Chambers   of 
Agriculture  recommend- 
ation about,  187 
Rats,  destruction  of,  94 
Records,  the  true  value  of, 

808-810 
Remises,  112-113 
Retrievers,    recent   improve- 
ment in  work  of,  227-228 


INDEX 


327 


Retrievers,    their    use     and 

abuse,  229-231 
Rooks  as  vermin,  197-198 
Ross,     Captain,     his     matcli 

with  Colonel  Anson,  71- 

74 
Russell,  Mr.  R.,  quoted,  194 

Shooting,  the  right  use  of  a, 

311-312 
Shootings,    right    system    to 

manage,  128-129 
Sparrow-hawk,  200-201 
Speedy,  Mr.  T.,  quoted,  194, 

200 
Sporting    guns,    recent    im- 
provement in,  233-234 
Sportsman,  the  qualities  of  a, 

232 
Stapleton  estate,  notes  from, 

152-154 
Stetchworth     estate,      notes 

from,  168-170 
Stoats,  95,  190 
Stratton  estate,  notes  from, 

174-176 
SwafFham  Prior  estate,  notes 

from,  164-168 


''Tipping,"  system  of,   234- 
236 

Vermin,  comparative  list  of, 

204-205 
Vermin    money,    danger    of 

allowing,  91-92 

^V^alking  in  line,  considera- 
tions   influencing    pace, 
221-222 
methods  of,  219-220 
picking  up,  220-221 

\V^easel,  the,  191 

VV^eeting   Hall,   notes   from, 
161-164 

VVelbeck  Abbey,  notes  from, 
147-149 

Wild  Birds'  Protection  Act, 
205-206 

Wild   life,   change  in   man's 
attitude  towards,  177-179 

\Vitchingham      Hall,     notes 
from,  158-161 

Zambra,  Mr.  Nelson,  quoted, 
187 


THE  p:nd 


Printed  />y  R.  &  R.  Clark,  Limited,  Edinbutgk. 


UNIFORM  WITH  THIS  VOLUME. 


BY    THE    SAME    AUTHOR 

(conjointly  with  Mr.  G.  Malcolm) 

GROUSE  &  GROUSE  MOORS 


SOME    PRESS    OPINIONS 

"Captain  Maxwell  writes  lucidly  and  to  the  point 
...  he  has  far  too  much  useful  knowledge  to  impart 
to  spare  any  space  for  padding.  .  .  .  Every  page  of 
Captain  Maxwell's  treatise  is  full  of  information  .  .  . 
we  trust  that  his  precepts  will  be  studied  as  widely 
and  carefully  as  they  deserve." — Saturdajj  Review. 

"  Captain  Aymer  Maxwell's  six  chapters  on  ^  Shoot- 
ing the  Grouse '  are  far  above  the  ordinary  level  of 
sporting  literature.  The  chapters  on  black-game  and 
ptarmigan  in  particular  contain  some  delightfully 
vivid  and  well-written  descriptions  of  Highland  rough 
shooting." — Spectator. 

"  In  the  second  half  of  the  volume  Captain 
Maxwell  writes  well  on  the  practical  side  of  grouse 
shooting — all  very  pleasant  reading  and  ^  well  put ' 
— and  showing  by  his  remarks  that  the  advice  he 
gives  is  based  on  experience.  Young  shooters  may 
be  recommended  to  read  with  attention  the  hints 
given  in  Chapter  VIII.  on  how  to  shoot  driven  grouse. 
The  chapters  which  follow^  descriptive  of  black-game 
and  ptarmigan  shooting,  will  remind  many  a  reader 
of  his  own  experiences,  and  are  very  true  to  nature." 
—Field. 


[     2     ] 

"  Captain  Maxwell's  directions  addressed  to  young 
sportsmen  on  the  right  way  of  shooting  driven  birds 
are  very  good,  and,  so  far  as  shooting  can  be  learned 
from  books,  no  doubt  have  their  value.  His  descrip- 
tion, however,  of  a  day's  blackcock  shooting  is  what 
we  like  best  in  the  book.  It  is  very  well  done,  and 
among  the  best  bits  of  sporting  literature  we  have 
recently  met  with." — The  Standard. 

"  Captain  Maxwell's  portion  of  the  volume  is 
brightly  written  and  very  pleasant  reading  .  .  . 
dealing  with  grouse -driving  his  contributions  are 
very  sound." — Dundee  Advertiser. 

'^  Captain  Maxwell  deals  with  his  subject  in  a 
most  exhaustive  and  thorough  manner  and  with 
obvious  expert  knowledge.  From  his  instructions 
any  intelligent  keeper  could  learn  how  best  to  work 
his  ground.  The  author  writes  of  the  sporting  black- 
game  and  the  ptarmigan  of  the  hill-tops  in  a  bright, 
attractive  style." — Manchester  Guardian. 

"  Captain  Maxwell's  chapters  dealing  with  grouse- 
driving  are  very  clear  and  useful,  and  the  information 
with  reference  to  the  construction  of  butts,  etc., 
should  prove  invaluable  to  those  newly  taking  up  a 
moor.  Very  practical  too  is  the  information  imparted 
to  the  guns  ;  the  etiquette  of  the  drive,  the  training 
of  the  dogs,  the  various  and  best  methods  of  holding 
the  gun,  the  birds  to  be  chosen,  and  so  on,  being 
lucidly  and  concisely  described.  The  book  indeed 
is  a  most  satisfactory  production  and  reflects  credit 
alike  upon  authors,  artist,  and  publishers." — The 
Outlook. 


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University  of  Britisl 

DUE 

1  Columbia  Library 

DATE 

1 

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