84 THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 



my host's chiens d'arr^t, such as they 

 were. One of them was a very tolerable 

 dog, and performed his work passing 

 well ; at all events, the principal qualifi- 

 cation was not wanting, — his nose was 

 good : he found us plenty of birds, and 

 altogether the sport was above par, and 

 much better than I expected. 



The red-legged partridge, so common 

 in Brittany, is a very inferior bird to the 

 grey, in point of flavour ; it is compara- 

 tively dry, stringy, and tasteless. The 

 plumage is very beautiful certainly, and 

 the trouble they give to get within shot 

 gives an additional zest 'to the sports- 

 man. They are fit for nothing, however, 

 but soup ; and I can assure the reader 

 that a puree de perdraux, as arranged by 

 the chef of the Grande Maison at Rennes, 

 is worth crossing the Channel to taste. 



There are plenty of birds, both red and 

 grey, all around Rennes ; hares in abun- 



