14 PARTRIDGES 



to the well-being of a nation, besides offer- 

 ing to many thousands of poor people the 

 chance of adding a few shillings to their 

 narrow means. 



Stripped of all the qualities which en- 

 dear him to us, the partridge may still be 

 regarded as a small machine, which turns 

 noxious weeds and useless insects into a 

 valuable food for humans. 



One might add that partridge-shooting 

 is a wholesome and manly recreation, 

 teaching city dwellers something of the 

 pleasures of an open-air life, and stimulat- 

 ing an interest in natural history. 



If the game laws were rescinded, 

 thousands of local tradesmen, who depend 

 largely on the custom of the ' big house,' 

 would be ruined ; tens of thousands of 

 gamekeepers, gunmakers, cartridge-factory 

 hands, and the like would be thrown out 

 of employment, and in return you would 

 have established the principle, futile in 

 conception and barren in results, that the 

 land and all that on it is belongs to the 

 people. 



