112 ON THE WING. 



will do well to send his partner around ahead of the 

 game several rods, so that when the dog and gun work 

 up, there will be a good chance to get one or more 

 shots. 



When the dog makes game, it is generally known to 

 be the partridge if his movements are straightforward 

 and rapid before he comes to the point. The par- 

 tridge will not let the dog point on him unless he is 

 under good cover, and often then only at long dis- 

 tances. 



Partridges are frequently caught in snares by farmer- 

 boys and pot-hunters, who catch them for the sake of 

 filthy lucre ; and in many places they are in this way 

 entirely run out. Snares are made as follows. A hedge- 

 fence is constructed of small staddle-trees, in the woods 

 by the hillsides, usually where wintergreen berries are 

 found. The crevices in the hedge are filled with 

 leaves, making a sort of brush wall about two feet in 

 height. At intervals of about four feet a hole is left 

 open, for the insertion of a snare made in the form of 

 a hoop. A little path is made on each side of the 

 hedge, for the partridge to run in, by removing the 

 leaves with the hand. The hedge is often many 

 rods long, and when a flock of partridges meet it, 

 instead of trying to jump or fly over it, they prefer 

 to trot along and try to run through the loop-holes, 

 playing a kind of hide-and-seek game. The snares 

 are so constructed that in running through the loop- 

 holes the partridge runs its head and neck into a 

 slipping noose, which tightens the more the bird 

 strains to get away. These hedges are visited every 



