PARTRIDGES AS PETS 53 



short sweet grass ; the whole of the partridges would 

 come back perhaps in detachments ; the squirrels 

 would reappear, the thrushes and blackbirds come 

 twit, twitting, out and a very pretty busy scene ensue, 

 which I have watched for hours. I once produced a 

 perfect furore in the mind of a cockney sporting friend 

 who came to see me, by showing him a score of 

 partridges on the lawn, not a dozen yards from him. 

 Calling him out of bed to see them, he could hardly 

 believe his eyes. Tremendous was his excitement. 

 He wanted to get his gun immediately, and to take a 

 family shot at them out of the window, and felt him- 

 self really injured when I informed him that I never 

 allowed a gun to be fired at them on any considera- 

 tion. I considered it one of the greatest charms of 

 the country life to have them, almost tame, about me, 

 and they seemed quite to understand that they were 

 safe on my premises.' 



