234 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



back to them in the return drive the double drive 

 comprising a stretch of a mile. 



On the great level fields of Norfolk, Suffolk, 

 Lincoln, and Cambridge, I have frequently seen a 

 mile of country driven towards the shooters ; but on 

 such occasions, after the birds had run or flown half- 

 way, a considerable number either broke out right 

 and left of the drivers, or else returned to the fields 

 they were first driven from without offering chances 

 to the guns. 



SOME GENEEAL INSTRUCTIONS IN PARTRIDGE DRIVING 



Partridges can rarely be driven beyond a certain 

 distance from their usual haunts, and no amount of 

 shouting or waving of flags will as a rule persuade the 

 birds to face the guns merely to fly to land they do 

 not naturally resort to, more especially if it has no 

 cover that offers them temporary concealment from 

 their disturbers. 



For this reason, when driving partridges, post the 

 guns so as to intercept the birds as they fly to or from 

 ground they frequent of their own choice ; they will 

 not then hesitate to pass within shot in order to reach 

 fields they have been accustomed to feed on or take 

 shelter in at other times. 



If you try to drive partridges over the shooters to 

 land the birds have never visited, you are pretty sure 

 to fail ; for they will often turn against a strong wind 

 rather than risk an evident danger to alight in a 

 locality they know nothing of. 



