154 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



in subdividing his sport over a large number of days', 

 especially if he lives from week to week at home for 

 the greater part of the year. In this case he will do 

 much more good on and near his own estate than he 

 who is constantly travelling about, racing or 'IjDndon- 

 ising ' ; but he will be dependent on a different class 

 for his guns. He cannot expect men to come and 

 assist him in his days of forty or fifty brace, walking, 

 who have the choice of other places where they can 

 kill 150 brace, driving, unless there are other strong 

 reasons to induce them to do so. 



But there is room for all these points of view, and 

 I, for one, cannot join those who turn their noses up 

 at days of forty to sixty brace of partridges, walked 

 up, in pleasant company. It must also be borne in 

 mind on the side of the ' walker ' that he can enjoy a 

 number of days of a perfectly charming sort with two 

 or three intimate friends, and without the trouble or 

 expense of a large organised party ; indeed, there are 

 no days pleasanter than those which are thus spent in 

 the pursuit of the partridge, where every beat on a large 

 sporting estate is tried in turn. I used to pass many 

 such at different places, and nowhere more pleasantly 

 than with my uncle, the late Lord Wenlock, at 

 Escrick. He and his eldest son, the present Governor 

 of Madras, and I shot many a day together, and so 



