694 PARTRIDGE 
state of things all the arable part of England is tending—are simply 
useless, except at the beginning of the season, when the young 
birds are not as yet strong on the wing, and the old birds are still 
feeble from moulting their. quill-feathers, Of late years therefore 
other modes of shooting Partridges have had to be employed, of 
which methods the most popular is that known as “ driving ”—the 
“guns” being stationed in more or less concealment at one end of 
the field, or series of fields, which is entered from the other by 
men or boys who deploy into line and walk across it making a 
noise. It is the custom with many to speak depreciatingly of this 
proceeding, but it is a fact that as much knowledge of the ways of 
Partridges is needed to ensure a successful day’s “driving” as was 
required of old when nearly everything was left to the intelligence 
of the dogs, for the course of the birds’ flight depends not only on 
the position of the line of beaters, but almost on the station of each 
person composing it, in relation to the force and direction of the 
wind and to the points on which it is desired that the Partridges 
should converge. Again, the skill and alacrity needed for bringing 
down birds flying at their utmost velocity, and often at a consider- 
able height, is enormously greater than that which sufficed to 
stop those that had barely gone 20 yards from the dog’s nose, 
though admittedly Partridges rise very quickly and immediately 
attain great speed. Moreover, the shooting of Partridges to pointers 
came to an end in little more than six weeks, whereas “ driving” 
may be continued for the whole season, and is never more success- 
ful than when the birds, both young and old, have completed their 
moult, and are strongest upon the wing. But, whether the new 
fashion be objectionable or not, it cannot be doubted that the old 
one could not be successfully restored without a reversion to the 
slovenly methods of agriculture followed in former years, and there- 
fore is as impossible as would be a return to the still older practice 
of taking Partridges in a setting-net, described by Gervase Mark- 
ham or Willughby. 
The Partridge has doubtless largely increased in numbers in 
Great Britain since the beginning of the present century, when 
so much down, heath and moorland was first brought under the 
plough, for its partiality to an arable country is very evident. It 
has been observed that the birds which live on grass lands or 
heather only are apt to be smaller and darker in colour than the 
average ; but in truth the species when adult is subject to a much 
greater variation in plumage than is commonly supposed, and the 
well-known chestnut horse-shoe mark, generally considered distinc- 
tive of the cock, is very often absent. In Asia our Partridge seems 
1 Mr. W. R. Ogilvie Grant has indicated certain characters in the plumage of 
the two sexes of this specics whereby they may be unfailingly distinguished. In 
the adult cock the sides of the neck are grey, but in the hen olive-brown, while 
