PARTRIDGE. I97 



occupiers. The mode of Partridge shooting is certainly altered 



for the worse. The old sport with well-trained pointers, in which 



the intelligent assistance of the dogs added so much to the day's 



enjoyment, has had to give place to driving by large parties ; or 



else, when the birds are in the turnips, the Hawk-Kite is flown to 



make the timid birds await their more certain destruction. The 



change is partly due to the loss of cover, rendering the Partridges 



more wild after the first few days in September ; but the sport 



is less for man and dog, and the birds are more killed down. 



The thundering guns are heard on ev'ry side, 

 The wounded coveys, reeling, scatter wide ; 

 The feather'd field-mates, bound by Nature's tie, 

 Sires, mother, children, in one carnage lie. 



Burns — The Brigs of Ayr. 



When the Partridge has got its full winter plumage, and has 

 been well scared by the gun, it becomes especially wild and un- 

 approachable, and now if the birds are disturbed, they take long and 

 rapid flights out of reach and out of sight. It is owing to this 

 wariness, and to the fact that in fine and bright spring weather 

 (like that of the present year, 1884) the birds are very prolific, that 

 the Partridge still exists in such numbers. 



There is a pretty theory in France, that the weight of Partridges 

 killed, bears a direct reference to the productiveness of the soil, and 

 the agricultural skill displayed upon it. In England their number 

 depends more upon the care of the occupier. They are certainly 

 fond of particular fields of light corn soils, and the experienced 

 sportsman who knows the country, will always know where to find 

 the birds on an estate. 



Partridges abound in Herefordshire as they do in most of the 

 counties of the British Isles, where the cats and the vermin are kept 

 down, and where the guns are under some sort of control. In many 

 parts of the county, however, where there is no preserving, and where 

 the gun has full play, the scarcity of the Partridge, and indeed of 

 all other kinds of game, is very marked ; and but for the large 

 estates where the game is protected, this admirable bird, the great 

 favourite, alike, of the sportsman, the housekeeper, and the cook, 

 would soon become extinct. 



