122 PARTRIDGES 



system itself, but rather in the faulty 

 application thereof. Neglect of such 

 weighty considerations as finding a suit- 

 able site for the pen, providing proper 

 food for the birds, and, most important of 

 all, careful and skilful handling at pairing 

 time, would be quite enough in themselves 

 to account for any want of success with- 

 out condemning the whole system. 



In any case the French system is not 

 one to adopt on a small scale, unless 

 experimentally, with a view to extending 

 operations should the results be favourable. 

 The initial expense of securing and enclos- 

 ing the ground is heavy, and the birds 

 require constant attention and supervision ; 

 and if only 100 young birds or so are 

 to be produced when all goes well, the 

 results will hardly repay the time and 

 money expended. It is a system best 

 adapted for working on large estates, 

 where each of five or six beat-keepers could 

 have twenty rearing pens set up in suit- 

 able places on his own ground, receiving 

 the paired birds to tenant them from the 



