^o Enemies of Partridges 



The bulk of intelligent keepers and field naturalists, whu know, 

 don't write, and the cabinet naturahsts, who do write, don't know. 



The enemies of the Partridge are innumerable, and I don't 

 propose to waste any great length of time in discussing the better 

 known ones, but wish rather to draw attention to some of those 

 which are less commonly put on the black list. 



I need hardly emphasize the fact again that the sliow of birds 

 you are able to put before the guns in October, will be regulated more 

 by the climatic conditions which obtained in the critical four weeks 

 (June 15 — July 15), than by any damage which the recognised 

 •enemies of Partridges could achieve. At the same time, good keepers 

 can effect a lot. The difference between a keen hardworking man 

 who knows his work, and a slack public-housey kind of man who 

 doesn't, represents fully a hundred birds on the beat. 



The principle of the reliable man is to prevent accidents 

 occurring, and if he cannot do that, to catch the offender at his first 

 •offence. Hedgehogs, for instance, are very fond of Partridges' eggs, 

 and if, unhap)pily, they raid a fence with a number of sitting birds, 

 it is likely, if left in peace, that they will presently clear the lot. 

 The good man may trap the hedgehog before he begins, but in an}- 

 case he will know all the nests on his beat, and give them a look every 

 day, and at once discover the mishap. The first nest spoilt bv the 

 hedgehog will also be his last, for he is easily trapped. My public- 

 housey friend may also effect the death of the hedgehog, but, very 

 likely, only when he has destro\'ed four or five nests in the same 

 fence. 



In order of demerit, from a game-preserver's point of view, the 

 Stoat, or " blacktail," as we call him, comes easily first. Nothing 

 comes amiss to him, fur, feather or eggs. I found a nest, or rather 

 a temporary home of some Stoats some years ago under a heap of 

 dead whin-faggots on one of the commons. Three nearly full- 

 grown young ones at home; two I shot, the third I lost for the 

 moment. I then fetched some traps and hung the young ones up 

 over the traps, and before night I had got the remaining yoimg ones 

 and both tfie parents 



In their larder I found four or five partially-eaten and two entire 

 rabbits, quite fresh, none of them full-grown, one fresh leveret, 

 the remains of another of considerable size, several thrushes' wings, 

 and a portion of an adult female Partridge, no doubt a sitting bird, 

 whose eggs the parent Stoats had eaten. In the same year, from the 

 same cause, I remember losing nine Partridges' nests on one small 

 common early in June. The result of bad luck, and the particularly 

 wary beasts we had to deal with. These eggs were all much 

 incubated, and, giving an average of ten young birds per pair, the 

 damage these Stoats did in the one locality, represented at least 100 

 birds. We finally exterminated the family, but it cost us nine nests 

 to achieve that end. In this case, we couldn't find the Stoats' 

 nest, and though we covered the ground with traps, we could not 



