Enemies of Partridges 6i 



get tliem. Once we found their liome, we finished tliem off without 

 difhcultv. 



Rats, weasels and hedgehogs are all destructive, being passion- 

 ately fond of eggs in any form. 



Cats that have once taken to poaching become confirmed in 

 their e\-il ways. Fortunately, they generally confine their attention 

 to rabbits, but they sometimes stumble by accident on a sitting bird, 

 and spoil a nest. They have the habit of returning to their kill the 

 following night, if they haven't hnished it of^ at once, and can then 

 be easil\- trapped with their own kill as a bait. Dogs -pet terriers, 

 lurchers, and all kinds of hunting dogs — are very destructive if they 

 are allowed out of control on a shooting ground in the nesting time. 

 It is not that they scent the Partridge on her nest, but in their pursuit 

 of rabbits they hunt the hedgerows, etc., and not infrequently 

 blunder on the sitting Partridge, smashing the eggs and pulling "a 

 handful of feathers out of the retreating bird. Pet dogs should be 

 kept at home at these times, and stray dogs summarih^ dealt with 

 and buried. 



Of feathered enemies there are man\', most of them being egg- 

 stealers. Facile princeps comes the Rook. He is an inveterate 

 egger, and in a dry summer, his depredations are very heavy. The 

 significance of the dry summer is, I suppose, that the growth is so 

 short and stunted, that the Rook has much less difficulty in finding 

 the nests, than when there is a luxuriant imdergrowth, which 

 effectually conceals them. Both French and English nests suffer, 

 Init the former far more severely, by reason of their being left 

 uncovered. Rooks don't, by any means, confine themselves to 

 Partridge eggs ; earlier in the year they spend a large part of their 

 time quartering the marshes, grass lands and commons where the 

 Lapwings nest, and taking a heavy toll of their eggs. 



Magpies in my part of Suffolk are practically e.xtinct. Jays 

 are very troublesome in the coverts, but give no trouble to the man 

 on the Partridge beat. 



Only two Hawks are likely to give any trouble. The Sparrow- 

 Hawk and Kestrel, the former, however, almost always nests in the 

 coverts, and feeds his family on the young hand-reared Pheasants, 

 and it will fall to the lot of the Pheasant man to deal with him. 

 The Kestrel is a very occasional offender, but I think they are some- 

 thing like the man-eating tiger — once they have begun to take game- 

 chicks, and find how easy it is and how full the supply, that particular 

 pair never bother to procure other food for their young. \Miere 

 you have to deal with such a pair, they must be destroyed, but under 

 ordinar\' circumstances, I think the species deserves protection. 



Of the four common Owls, I believe they are all entirely harmless 

 as regards feathered game, and do an enormous amount of good in 

 the wav of killing rats, mice, field-voles, etc., etc. They are stiictly 

 protected with us. 



I think I have noted most of the common enemies we have to 



