86 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



1 Good heavens ! ' said the Student, ' I never saw a 

 partridge, except on a dish ! ' Poor Student, he was 

 more familiar with lamplight than with stubbles, and 

 a better judge of the balance of a decanter than of 

 a breech-loader. But the article did very well ; the 

 public, no doubt, were perfectly pleased and this 

 makes me uneasy when I think of it, for I wonder 

 whether the superior ability of Student Williams, 

 combined with his ignorance of the partridge, would 

 not make more readable matter than I am likely to 

 produce. 



All that can be said in the practical form of hints, 

 facts and experiences has been so admirably done by 

 my friends, Lord Walsingham, Sir Ralph Payne- 

 Gallwey, and Mr. Grimble, that I can only hope to 

 interest by sticking to the actual facts that have come 

 under my own observation, and the deductions which 

 may fairly be drawn from them. 



Here at the outset I come upon a word on which 

 I must found my first hint to those who wish to excel 

 in shooting the partridge, or, for the matter of that, 

 any other bird. 



Observation. Partridges will behave in much the 

 same manner, under the same circumstances, in all 

 localities, and a man should know when beating a 

 field whereabouts the birds are likely to rise, or, when 



