BY MANY HANDS 147 



WELBECK ABBEY, NOTTS 

 (Notes by Captain H. HEATHCOAT AMORY.) 



Our extent of partridge ground altogether is about 

 12,000 acres. Of course a lot of this is hardly shot over, 

 and carries a very small stock on it. It is practically all 

 cultivated. Soil varies very much in different parts of the 

 estate, one side being sandy, the other heavy clay. 



Rotation of Crops. Average four years' shift, but on 

 heavy land some farmers go five years. 



Nesting ground hedgerows chiefly, the only artificial 

 provided being the remises. There are five remises on the 

 whole estate. On the best beat two one about 11 acres, 

 and one about 4. They consist of ground wired in, wire- 

 netting 8 to 10 feet high, 4 to 5 inch mesh at the bottom, 

 so as to allow the young birds to get through. Inside a 

 belt of shrubs, or spruce and Scotch fir, according to suit- 

 ability of ground, about 15 yards broad. Interior ones to 

 be divided up into four divisions (1) turnips, (2) barley, 

 (3) first year layer, (4) second year layer. The only 

 advantage for nesting is that the birds are safe from foxes, 

 otherwise they don't use them for nesting any more than 

 outside ; in fact I think we find more nests in the hedges 

 than we do in the remises. 



Nesting Season. All nests should be found if possible 

 and visited once a day. Average number of eggs about 

 18 to the nest. Eggs are lifted from the outside of the 

 estate and brought into the centre to fill up nests to 20 

 or 22 eggs, which works well, and often has the advantage 

 of changing the blood to a certain extent. No eggs 

 incubated at all here, and no partridges hand-reared. 



We have had very little disease here. Our only 

 trouble has been the wet in June, which has drowned the 

 young birds. On one part of the estate, where there are a 

 lot of flood meadows watered by sewage, we have had a 

 certain amount of dysentery among the old birds. This is 



