SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



snipe, 47 ; wild fowl, 725 ; various, 306. Since 

 1897-8 partridges have done badly, the total 

 bag in any one season not exceeding 1,133. In 

 1901-2, 250 brace of Hungarian birds were 

 turned down to improve the stock, but there has 

 been no appreciable increase in the number shot. 

 In 1897-8, 1,581 partridges were killed in five 

 days. In 1 905-6, 4,674 head of game were 

 killed in five days, viz. : Partridges, 122 ; phea- 

 sants, 4,242 ; hares, 152; rabbits, 93 ; wood- 

 cock, 33 ; wild fowl, 5 ; and pigeons, 27. 

 During the whole season 1,030 hares were shot. 

 Partridges have never been reared to any extent, 

 but much benefit has been derived by changing 

 the eggs from nests in one part of the estate to 

 another. It is interesting to compare with these 

 records those from another large estate on the 

 north-west border of the county, where the 

 conditions of soil, &c. are entirely dissimilar. 



Prince Frederick Duleep Singh, of Old Buck- 

 enham Hall, a son of the late Maharajah Dhuleep 

 Singh, G.C.S.I., who owned the celebrated 

 Elveden estate for over thirty years, and was one 

 of the best game shots of the day, has furnished 

 some valuable notes of the game, more particu- 

 larly partridges, killed from 1863 to 1893. In 

 his letter to the writer Prince Frederick explains 

 that the bags mentioned were secured at Elveden 

 proper over an area of 17,000 odd acres, almost 

 half of which was wood and heath. During the 

 period 1863-93, inclusive, the largest bag of 

 partridges was obtained in 1876, when 11,828 

 birds were killed. From September, 1876,10 

 2 February, 1877, the head of game killed was : 

 Pheasants, 9,803; partridges, 11,823; nares > 

 1,724; woodcock, 26 ; snipe, 31 ; various, 70; 

 rabbits, 31,609 ; of the last-named of course by 

 far the greater number was trapped by warreners 

 in the woods and the warrens. The next best 

 season for partridges was about ten years later, 

 namely, 1885-6, when 9,491 birds were shot. 

 Of this number over 6,500 were killed in six- 

 teen days' driving, by three guns, which gives an 

 average of over 200 brace per day. The best bags 

 were 428 brace, 326 brace, 309 brace, and 

 307^ brace; the total head of game killed this 

 season was : Pheasants, 1 1,921 ; partridges, 9,491 ; 

 hares, 1,815 > woodcock, 77 ; duck, 8 ; snipe, 

 I ; various, 124 ; and 58,140 rabbits, most of 

 which were warrened. This gives a total of 

 81,877 head f° r the season. The number of 

 rabbits seems stupendous, but it must be remem- 

 bered that some thousands of acres consist of a 

 ' blowing sand ' on which nothing will grow but a 

 little heather and bracken, coarse tussock grass and 

 a sort of grey lichen — beloved of rabbits. These 

 lands from time immemorial have been rabbit 

 warrens, and owing to the nature of the soil 

 (into which the rabbits can burrow in a night) 

 are practically useless for shooting purposes ; so 

 the rabbits are annually trapped by warreners as 

 in the neighbouring breck-lands and warrens of 

 Norfolk. The calling of the warrener isheredi- 



36 



tary in certain families in these counties. 77,365 

 is the largest number of rabbits killed here in 

 one year during the above period. The season 

 1885—6 seems to have been the 'record' for 

 woodcock as well as for pheasants, though the 

 total of the latter is not to be compared with 

 what is, 1 believe, obtained now-a-days. There 

 were other very good seasons when from 6,000 

 to 8,000 partridges were killed, but the two 

 years mentioned above are the best. The earliest 

 bag recorded at Elveden is that for the year 

 1834. Of course the area then shot over was 

 very much smaller, about one-third of that on 

 which the later bags were obtained. For that 

 year the totals were : Pheasants, 674 ; partridges, 

 392 ; hares, 710 ; rabbits (shot), 248 ; wood- 

 cock, 34 ; but the pheasants and partridges 

 steadily rose in numbers until in 1857 there were 

 killed : Pheasants, 1,823 > partridges, 3,258 ; 

 hares, 821 ; rabbits (shot), 368 ; woodcock, 33. 

 The bag of partridges is really remarkable, as it 

 was obtained in the old muzzle-loading days and 

 on an area of about 3,000 acres of arable land. 

 To revert to later times, perhaps the most extra- 

 ordinary bag ever obtained at Elveden was when 

 the late Maharajah killed 780 partridges (390 

 brace) to his own gun, driving and walking. 

 This was in the year 1876, which, as we have 

 seen, was the ' record ' year for partridges here. 



In the north-west corner of Suffolk several 

 large estates almost overlap one another. These 

 are owned by Viscount Iveagh (Elveden), the 

 Duke of Grafton (Euston), Lord Cadogan (Cul- 

 ford), Sir H. Banbury (Mildenhall), and the 

 Marquis of Bristol (Ickworih). They vary in 

 extent from 5,000 to 25,000 acres, and the total 

 bag of game recorded each season depends much 

 upon the quantity of birds reared by hand. The 

 biggest days on such shootings may produce 

 from 2,000 to 3,000 head (of winged game) for 

 six to eight guns. All these estates are strictly 

 preserved ; the tenant farmers are liberally com- 

 pensated for any damage done to crops, and 

 they are given many days' sport amongst them- 

 selves ; an army of keepers, watchers, rearers, 

 and general helps are employed ; the labourers 

 are generously rewarded for nests found and 

 vermin destroyed ; enormous sums of money are 

 expended by the shooting owners and lessees in 

 the locality. Thornham (Lord Henniker), Or- 

 well Park (Captain Pretvman), Easton (Duchess of 

 Hamilton), Henham Hall (Earl of Stradbroke), 

 Brandon Park (Mr. A. H. Paget), Downham 

 Hall (Colonel Mackenzie), Flixton Hall (Sir 

 Frederick Shafto Adair), Somerleyton Hall (Sir 

 Savile Crossley, bt.), Rendlesham Hall (Lord 

 Rendlesham), Heveningham Hall (Lord Hunt- 

 ingfield), Sotterlcy Park (Colonel Barnes), are 

 some of the more noteworthy estates where most 

 excellent sport is obtainable with pheasants, par- 

 tridges, hares, and wild fowl. Upon one of 

 these over 20,000 pheasants were shot during 

 the season of 1905-6 ; nearly 100,000 rabbits 



