St. Giles' Day 121 



The pursuit of the partridge has passed 

 through a variety of phases ; changes in 

 agriculture have so altered the conditions 

 of the sport that Poor Sancho and Carlo 

 are now in a great measure discarded, 

 instead of being welcomed and valued as 

 intelligent coadjutors. Tempora mutantur 

 et nos mutamur in illis. Alas ! my years 

 are progressing all too rapidly, for I can 

 remember the days of the muzzle-loader, 

 of the long hand-reaped stubbles, tangled 

 turnips, straggling hedgerows, and patches 

 of rough, sedgy grass, and then I was filled 

 with keen and genuine delight by the spec- 

 tacle of my dog's work, for there was a 

 fair scope to test their abilities and sagacity. 

 This is the kind of shooting to which many 

 good and genuine sportsmen even now look 

 back with regret, but this generation of old 

 sportsmen is gradually having its ranks 

 thinned by that " devourer of all things 



