20 KEillXISCEXCES OF A SPORTSM.iN". 



lie cool. I have frequently found them on the waste 

 land of retired lanes. 



When you feel pretty sure that the coveys have not 

 been netted, persevere in beating close every sort of 

 gi'ound, and by doing this, the chances are two to one 

 that you will be at last well rewarded with some good 

 shooting. Birds lie sometimes very close on the fallows, 

 particularly if the ground is cloggy, which prevents their 

 running ; young plantations with long grass, and under- 

 wood of one or two years' growth, are often resorted to 

 by the birds when they have been much shot at.* 



If your estate should be sufficiently extensive, never 

 beat the ground too often ; give the birds a respite of two 

 or three days, and you will then most likely find them 

 lie well, and the reverse if shot at day after day. If a 

 bird is hit hard, keep your eye steadfastly fixed on it, to 

 see whether he towers in the air, and as it sometimes 

 falls dead at a considerable distance, hasten to the spot to 

 prevent the labourers picking it up, and concealing it, 

 which is occasionally done. 



If you are shooting in a country where birds are 

 scarce, and you happen to find a strong covey, persevere 

 in following them, and if you succeed in dispersing them 

 you may insure some good sport and fill the game bag. 



* Some sportsmen, when tlieir minds are haunted with blue devils, 

 fancy that in a few years there will be little or no partridge shooting in 

 England, o%ving to the prevailing system of cutting the corn with scythes, 

 leaving scarcely any stubble for cover, and in a short time the fields 

 being ploughed for fresh crops. But it shoidd be borne in mind that the 

 cidtivation of turnips and potatoes has increased considerably, to which 

 the birds, when disturbed, are sure to resort, as also clover left for seed. 

 As long as the Irish peasants come to England with their sickles to reap 

 the corn, we may fairly calculate on having some rough stubbles for 

 partridge shooting. 



