46 BIIITANNY AND THE CEASE. 



upon liim, but lost him round a tree ; and the moment after, 

 on looking back, I saw the bird going away behind me at a 

 hundred miles an hour ; and evidently he had turned sharp 

 round, and fled back close to me without my seeing him. 

 Som.etimes I have found them on the open field, lying close 

 and steady to the dog, like partridges ; this is a pleasant 

 variety, as they go away like " streaked lightning," and are 

 difficult to kill. I always used very small shot, No. 9., with 

 the second barrel of larger size for a thicket ; and the bird 

 being tender, and falling at a touch, may be fired at from 

 almost any distance. They are certainly very peculiar in 

 their tastes. I know one place where I invariably find a 

 cock ; it is a dry ditch, under some furze bushes, with 

 nothing particular about it that I can make out. A wooded 

 marshy ditch I can understand, but a dry ditch on a hill 

 is singular. 



Occasionally they congregate, long after their arrival. 

 One morning I started early to shoot a large wood, 

 eight miles off; the wind was unusually high, and the 

 weather stormy. The place was of a good character, 

 but was hard to beat, except with a strong force, as the 

 trees were large and thick, and the wood upwards of 500 

 acres. We got in, and began to beat about ; but nothing 

 could we find, neither high nor low. At length we reached 

 the end, and came to a small coppice of half an acre. 

 " Perhaps they may be here," I thought, "but the growth is 

 too recent for much." In went the dogs, and up rose a flight of 

 cocks, like pheasants, at the end of a cover. I got six shots, 

 but was clumsy, and only bagged a couple ; but they had 

 evidently been holding a parliament there, driven probably 



