ON PLAIN AND PEAK 



surrounding country are driven ; but they are never 

 shot as they come in, being allowed to settle quietly, 

 and then " walked up." No doubt the fact that 

 Bohemia is destitute of fences the only landmark 

 between the fields being generally the change of 

 crop, or, at the most, a ditch militates somewhat 

 against driving ; but, on the other hand, many 

 heath-lands in Norfolk and Suffolk are equally bare, 

 where driving is successfully carried out, the "guns" 

 being either placed in pits, or behind shelters formed 

 of a couple of hurdles. The present system of 

 " walking up " is very pleasant whilst it lasts ; but, 

 naturally, after a fortnight or so, the season is over, 

 the birds becoming so wild that it is impossible to 

 get near them. 



But to turn to partridge-shooting as it is carried 

 on in Bohemia, rather than as it might be ! 



Picture a vast plain, sweltering beneath an Au- 

 gust sun. Stiff rows of plum-trees, affording but 

 the smallest minimum of shade, line the dusty 

 roads, and here and there intersect the fields. The 

 country its surface chequered by the various crops 

 like a patchwork counterpane lies dull, flat, and 

 uninteresting. One village resembles another a 

 collection of low-roofed, whitewashed houses, one- 

 storied, and built of wood many of them ; a white- 

 washed church with a single bell hanging in the 

 turret ; a public-house possibly two or three or 



86 



