PARTRIDGES 



October, and another five days later in 

 the season. Six thousand birds off the 

 8000 acres is not an undue estimate on 

 first-class ground, and a pair of birds to 

 every 4 or 5 acres is about the stock that 

 the ground will comfortably carry, seeing 

 that the partridges have it all their own 

 way, the merest sprinkling of pheasants 

 being allowed to nest outside the home 

 covers. 



But all estates are not equally blessed, 

 and we must now consider some of the 

 problems which present themselves very 

 forcibly in the ordinary course of pre- 

 servation. Perhaps the commonest of 

 these is provided by the rival sport of 

 hunting. The presence of foxes on an 

 estate vastly complicates the question of 

 partridge preservation. The fox, deadliest 

 foe to game, must not only be tolerated 

 but encouraged, and though it has been 

 proved beyond all doubt that both foxes 

 and partridges can exist on the same 

 ground in sufficient numbers for the 

 purpose of sport, still the life of a keeper 



