PAETEIDGE SHOOTING. 



Haste, 'ere the sun hath drunk the dews, 

 Boon Nature to her banquet woos ; 

 Around, the smiling fields no more 

 Are waving with their golden store ; 

 Homeward bears the loaded wain, 

 The golden glories of the plain ; 

 And nut-brown partridges are seen 

 Gliding among the stubble screen : 

 There 's joy and gladness in the skies ; 

 Loiterer ! from thy couch arise ! 



Next, in seasonable succession to moor-fowl shooting, 

 comes the chase of the Partridge — for once to borrow 

 a sporting term from our friends beyond the Straits 

 of Dover. Like the red grouse, partridges may be 

 be called an exclusively national species of game. 

 We call them " birds," as taking precedence of the 

 whole feathered family ; and if flavour be any indica- 

 tion of quality (we did not say condition, as it might 

 have come within the possibility of a pmi), they are 

 entitled to this pre-eminence. As we shall show 

 presently, there are two kinds of partridges : the 

 grey, our indigenous, if not exclusive sort ; and the 

 red-legged, a foreigner, of recent introduction (and, 

 like other foreigners, if we had never seen him it 

 would have been no great loss). 



According to act of parliament, you are entitled 

 to shoot them from the 1st of September to the 

 1st of Februaiy ; but (especially on your own manors) 

 if you begin on the 20th and finish on Old Twelfth 

 Day, you will find your reward, both in better sport 

 and a better stock. The amateur of the trigger and 



