BY MANY HANDS 133 



Except on this one estate in Oxfordshire, 

 it was then the universal custom to allow 

 partridges to fend entirely for themselves ; 

 the more prominent vermin were, it is 

 true, probably destroyed, but beyond that, 

 no interest was taken in the movements 

 of the birds until the 1st of September 

 drew near, and it became a question 

 what sport they could be called upon to 

 furnish. 



Partridge - driving, demanding more 

 birds on the ground and more certainty 

 of their being there when wanted than 

 the older methods which it supplanted, 

 resulted in the trial of every conceivable 

 means of assisting nature. These methods 

 of driving and preservation the two are 

 almost inseparably connected have in 

 some countries been almost reduced to 

 a complete system, but in many others, 

 where driving is still more or less a novel 

 introduction, the whole system has not 

 yet emerged from a rude and barbaric 

 infancy. At the best, modern methods 

 are still largely experimental in their 



