HUNTING PARTRIDGES. 93 



lar locality, the more it will be to your advantage, and the 

 better you will know how to arrange your hunt. When 

 the season is advanced, during the middle of the day, look 

 well to the sides of the meadows and grass lands, also the 

 old fallow fields, on coming across them, especiall}- if thei-e 

 is a stream of water running in the locality. These are 

 the places in which you may often find birds about midday, 

 and are thought by most sportsmen to be the most im- 

 probable places to find them, and they seldom pass through 

 them, but generally pass by without even letting the dog 

 range over them. Both sportsman and dog think these 

 places the most unlikely of all others for birds to frequent ; 

 whereas, sometimes, of all others, they are the most likely. 

 Partridges very often resort to the old fallow fields to pick, 

 sci'atch, and dust themselves, and to remain quiet for an 

 hour or two, as these fields, of all others, are the most quiet, 

 there being seldom an}^ hands there to disturb them, and 

 instead of the sportsman passing around the old fallow 

 fields, scarcely giving them a glance, let him and his dog- 

 hunt them as well as the stubble fields. On cold days 

 birds are often found in the meadows and grass lands, and, 

 on coming across them, you should always allow your dog 

 to range over them. Partridges, as a general thing, lie very 

 close in a meadow, or high grass land, and on finding them 

 you will have a good chance of filling your bag. They 

 seldom get up wild, but on the contrary lie very close and 

 often times will allow you to kick them uj). This makes 

 beautiful sport, and I have often killed every bird in the 

 cove}^ when found in such localities, though I have often 

 taken pity on them, and left part of the covey remain, 

 when I knew I had them at my mercy^. Partridges that 

 are wild from frequent flushing are hard to kill, and they 

 must be marked down very accurately, and if they have 

 been much disturbed they make long flights and settle, 

 and hide sometimes in unaccountable places. After hav- 

 ing been flushed and shot at, and made very wild, they 

 fly sometimes and alight into very bare places. It is 

 not an uncommon occurrence for them to alight, when 



