1 88 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



merely because one had enjoyed the hospitality of the 

 one, or admired the skill of the other. Yet it would 

 be unfair not to award the palm where it is due, and 

 the results above mentioned arc so largely due to the 

 talents and knowledge of Marlowe, Lord Ashburton's 

 head keeper at The Grange, that I must place him 

 first among all the keepers I have ever seen, for pro- 

 ducing a fine stock of partridges, as well as for 

 managing and realising from them when produced. 



I must mention two others who run him hard for 

 ability and partridge management : Jackson, H.R.H. 

 the Prince of Wales' keeper at Sandringham, and 

 Robbins, for many years in Lord Londesborough's 

 service at Selby, in Yorkshire. I am, no doubt, 

 leaving out others with great claims to be named and 

 recorded, there being, for instance, half-a-dozen men 

 on the famous manors of Cambridgeshire, within a 

 few miles of Newmarket, and another half-a-dozen 

 in Norfolk, who have consummate knowledge of the 

 subject ; but I cannot pretend to adjust exactly the 

 comparative merits of all the good keepers in 

 England. 



I revert to the results at The Grange, because they 

 make a very remarkable test case. The late Lord 

 Ashburton, in whose service Marlowe had been for 

 many years on the well-known estate of Buckenham, 



