ISO SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



winged bird in turnips, will never be first-rate, even 

 for driving purposes ; and a boy who does not know 

 how to carry his own gun, or use it when walking in 

 line, nor how to handle that retriever, will never be a 

 pleasant neighbour nor an accomplished performer in 

 a good week's driving. One thing, however, I would 

 beg of him to decide finally which he prefers, and 

 not to walk up his birds as well as drive them on the 

 same ground. This is trying to eat your cake and 

 have it, both with partridges and grouse. The walk- 

 ing up skims the cream, spoils the subsequent driving, 

 and undoes the good the latter sport may do to the 

 stock. The driving, after the ground has been already 

 walked, is not worth having, and, if persisted in, is 

 hard upon the stock of birds. 



Driving partridges is the cream, the luxury, and 

 poetry of the sport ; walking up is the very marrow 

 and essence of it. I defy any one to handle a line of 

 men, or arrange a beat for driving, who has not plenty 

 of experience in walking after them. The partridge, 

 like most things, must be known from all points of 

 view that he may be properly appreciated and dealt 

 with. Walking up, or shooting partridges over dogs, 

 is, in my judgment, the finest training of all for a 

 young shooter. Here he can learn everything of the 

 habits of the birds, of the instinct or the merits of the 



