BY MANY HANDS 161 



lose a certain number of hen birds. I imagine they get 

 chilled and poor from continual sitting in wet weather, 

 and then contract lung diseases. My own opinion, such 

 as it is, is that the artificial forms of manure are not harm- 

 ful. A friend of mine, who has one of the best partridge 

 manors in Norfolk, keeps in his own hands 1000 acres 

 of land on which no artificial manures have been used for 

 the last three or four years. The birds, however, on this 

 land have done no better than on the adjoining ground, 

 where artificial manures are used. 



Size of Beat. A good deal depends on the lie of the 

 ground, whether it is a straggling beat intersected by 

 villages, etc. If the beat is compact, and in one block, I 

 consider that a really good keen keeper can look after 

 1500 acres. 



My stock was biggest in 1905. We have had no good 

 year in Norfolk since, although 1908 was fair. The last 

 two years have been unusually bad, and in consequence 

 the stock of young birds is small. In 1905 I only had 

 3200 acres of shooting, and on this 2400 birds were killed 

 and a very large stock left. This acreage included 130 

 acres of wood and a 300-acre farm, which was rented for 

 the first time, and was not seriously driven or shot over. 



WEETING HALL, BRANDON, NORFOLK 

 (Notes by C. COCKBURN, Esq.) 



Soil and Cultivation. Extent of ground 8000 acres, only 

 300 acres grass, the rest arable and bracken. The soil is 

 light and sandy, chalk and flint. 



Nesting Ground. The partridges nest in the corn, sain- 

 foin, and clover, also at the edges of the woods ; there are 

 no hedges. I always have keepers walking ahead of the 

 mower when the sainfoin, etc., are being cut ; if they are 

 cut early, many scores of nests are cut out and smashed. 



Nesting Season. If you find the nests and visit them 



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