2io SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



not allowed to grow too thick, and, unless wired in, 

 the young broom which is the best cover of all for 

 partridges will be eaten by rabbits and hares, while 

 the cover itself will be too easily hunted by foxes. 

 These will not be entirely kept out by wire netting 

 after it has been up a year or two, but they will 

 always be loth to trust themselves much inside it, 

 and any little alteration, such as an extra strand of 

 wire along the top, will make them suspicious of a 

 trap, and, in all likelihood, keep them out altogether. 



Banks or belts of this description are, I think, 

 better than fir-belts, though they do not afford such 

 pretty shooting when birds are driven over them. If 

 the neighbouring fences do not answer for driving, 

 artificial stands of hurdles can be placed in the belt. 

 These hurdle-stands should always be made either 

 of two hurdles set at about a right angle, the point 

 towards the drive, or of three hurdles, forming a 

 three-sided shelter. When made of only one hurdle, 

 the birds coming right and left of you catch sight of 

 you, and swerve or turn back altogether. 



Again, if expense need not be considered, I would 

 go much farther than the making of these belts or 

 banks, and have one or more sanctuaries or partridge 

 preserves in the centre of the ground. I cannot 

 understand why this idea is not more adopted where 



