PARTRIDGE 693 



ornithologists, a species which may be regarded as the model game- 

 bird — whether from the excellence of the sport it affords in the 

 field, or the no less excellence of its flesh at table, which has been 

 esteemed from the time of Martial to our own — while it is on all 

 hands admitted to be wholly innocuous, and at times beneficial to 

 the agriculturist. It is an undoubted fact that the Partridge 

 thrives with the highest system of cultivation ; and the lands that 

 are the most carefully tilled, and bear the greatest quantity of 

 grain and green crops, generally produce the greatest number of 

 Partridges. Yielding perhaps in economic importance to the Red 

 Grouse, what may be called the social influence of the Partridge is 

 greater than that excited by any other wild bird, for there must be 

 few rural parishes in the three kingdoms of which the inhabitants 

 are not more or less directly afiected in their movements and busi- 

 ness by the coming in of Partridge-shooting, and therefore a few 

 words on this theme may not be out of place. 



From the days when men learned to " shoot flying " until the 

 latter half of this century, dogs were generally if not invariably 

 used to point out where the " covey," as a family-party of Part- 

 ridges is called, was lodged, and the greatest pains were taken to 

 break in the " pointers " or " setters " to their duty. In this way 

 marvellous success was attained, and the delight lay nearly as much 

 in seeing the dogs quarter the ground, wind and draw up to the 

 game, helping them at times (for a thorough understanding between 

 man and beast was necessary for the perfection of the sport) by 

 word or gesture, as in bringing down the bird after it had been 

 finally sprung. There are many who lament that the old-fashioned 

 practice of shooting Partridges to dogs has, with rare exceptions, 

 fallen into desuetude, and it is commonly believed that this result 

 has followed wholly from the desire to make larger and larger bags 

 of game. The opinion has a certain amount of truth for its base ; 

 but those who hold it omit to notice the wholly changed circum- 

 stances in which Partridge-shooters now find themselves. In the 

 old days there were plenty of broad, tangled hedgerows which 

 afl"orded permanent harboiu" for the birds, and at the beginning of 

 the shooting- season admirable shelter or "lying" (to use the 

 sportsman's word) was found in the rough stubbles, often reaped 

 knee-high, foul with weeds and left to stand some six or eight 

 weeks before being ploughed, as well as in the turnips that were 

 sown broadcast. Throughout the greater part of England now the 

 fences are reduced to the narrowest of boundaries and are mostly 

 trimly kept ; the stubbles — mown, to begin with, as closely as 

 possible to the ground — are ploughed within a short time of the 

 corn being carried, and the turnips are drilled in regular lines, 

 off"ering inviting alleys between them along which Partridges take 

 foot at any unusual noise. Pointers in such a district — and to this 



