152 SffOOT/NC THE PARTRIDGE 



greatly increased and your hags proportionately 

 higher, it is worth while to persevere. But if, as in 

 many places, the soil is not favourable to a large 

 stock, and you still cannot raise enough birds to kill 

 say from eighty to one hundred brace in a day, it is, 

 in my opinion, better to stick to the system of walk- 

 ing, and to rely upon good keepering and judicious 

 management for the best sport which this class of 

 country will afford. 



A great many partridge manors arc much too hard 

 shot, and have nothing like the stock upon them that 

 the ground will carry (of this I shall have more to 

 say in another chapter) ; but this is accounted for in 

 many cases by the clinging to the old traditions in the 

 early part of the season, shooting every beat by walking 

 in the old way, and in the later part imitating the 

 fashion, and pandering to an unworthy and hopeless 

 desire to vie with the places where good bags are 

 made by exclusive driving a fatal combination which 

 reduces your stock of birds, disappoints yourself, and 

 enrages and discourages your keepers. Ground which 

 has been shot over by walking, if decent bags have 

 been made, is not worth driving, and I know nothing 

 more dispiriting than to be told, as you are placed 

 for a drive, 'You know, we have killed eighty brace 

 off this ground already, and saw an awful lot of birds.' 



